City of Baltimore - File #: 16-0313R

• File #: 16-0313R
• Version: 0
• Name: Informational Hearing - Homeless Outreach Efforts
• Type: City Council Resolution
• Status: Adopted
• File created: 8/15/2016
• In control: Housing and Community Development Committee
• Final action: 10/20/2016
• Title: Informational Hearing - Homeless Outreach Efforts For the purpose of inviting representatives from the Mayor’s Office of Human Services, the Health Department, and Behavioral Health Systems Baltimore, along with other providers of homeless outreach, to discuss the need for and current status of professional intervention for homeless people without shelter in Baltimore City.
• Sponsors: Mary Pat Clarke, Bill Henry, Sharon Green Middleton, Helen L. Holton, Eric T. Costello, Brandon M. Scott, Carl Stokes, James B. Kraft, Robert Curran, Edward Reisinger, Nick Mosby, William "Pete" Welch, Rochelle Spector
• Indexes: Homeless, Informational Hearing, Outreach

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result
10/20/2016	0	City Council	Adopted
10/20/2016	0	Housing and Community Development Committee	Recommended Favorably
9/12/2016	0	Housing and Community Development Committee	Scheduled for a Public Hearing
8/18/2016	0	The City Council	Refer to Mayor's Office of Human Services
8/18/2016	0	The City Council	Refer to Dept. of Health
8/15/2016	0	City Council	Assigned
8/15/2016	0	City Council	Introduced

Introduced by: Councilmember Clarke


A Resolution Entitled

A Council Resolution concerning
title
Informational Hearing - Homeless Outreach Efforts
For the purpose of inviting representatives from the Mayor’s Office of Human Services, the Health Department, and Behavioral Health Systems Baltimore, along with other providers of homeless outreach, to discuss the need for and current status of professional intervention for homeless people without shelter in Baltimore City.
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Recitals

Nationally, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) estimates at least 610,000 people find themselves in shelters, on the streets, or in other places unfit for human habitation on any given night in the United States - a number that does not include the hundreds of thousands who are hidden from public sight or unstably “doubled up” with family and friends, to include a growing number of children and families. Indeed, another report from the National Center on Family Homelessness found 2.5 million children experienced homelessness each year.

In Baltimore City, recent counts of people experiencing homelessness have reported between 2,600 and 4,100 people without housing on any given night - a small fraction of the number served annually by the City’s homeless service providers.

These surveys also report that the three top health concerns that impact the homeless population in the City of Baltimore are substance abuse, mental health, and chronic illness - all of which are significantly and negatively impacted by homelessness. A 2005 study by the National Health Care for the Homeless Council found that this “tri-morbidity” of substance abuse and mental illness together with chronic health problems increases the risk of early death. Because of this compounding effect, people experiencing homelessness are 3...