Homeless in RI: If we leave 600 people out there, people will die...

For the second time homeless advocates attended Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee‘s RI2030 community meeting, this one held at the Community College of Rhode Island in Warwick on Tuesday evening. As they did in Warren last week, advocates demanded solutions to the crisis of more than 1000 people on a waiting list for shelter and over 600 people, including families with children, living on the streets, in cars, and places “not fit for human habitation.”

This RI2030 meeting was different from last week’s meeting in several ways. For one, the Governor attended the meeting from the beginning to the end. For another, instead of having lower level staff working the meetings, the Governor had the heads of various State Departments in attendance, including Womazetta Jones, Secretary of Rhode Island’s Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS).

Secretary Jones listened to, and was visibly moved by, the comments made by the homeless advocates in attendance.

“We’re very concerned that people will freeze to death outside,” said Professor Eric Hirsch, Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Providence College. “We’ve been reaching out to the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, to staff members – and still, not enough has been done.

Read more: https://upriseri.com/homelessri-if-we-leave-600-people-out-there-people-will-die/

The day after this article was published Gov. McKee pledged $5 million to address the homeless issue and provide shelter during the winter months. Please see the thread with his announcement at https://www.democraticunderground.com/1075748 .