An “amazing group of people” with an “amazing set of expertise and resources” gathered at the first meeting by the Morgantown’s special committee on addressing unsheltered homelessness.
That was according to Mayor Ron Dulaney, who said the goal of the meeting was to understand who was in the room, what resources were available and what the problems and challenges there are surrounding the issue.
Leaders from organizations that work directly and indirectly with the homeless population, representatives from various neighborhood associations, and some residents of Diamond Village and Morgantown’s unsheltered community were among the more than 30 people that participated.
Some of the Diamond Village residents requested a dumpster to collect their trash. All of them expressed disappointment in the city’s response dealing with the encampment so far.
“Words are words, actions are actions,” said Diamond Village resident Tonya Stalnaker.
She said only a few people and agencies have actually showed up at the camp to provide services.
One woman said she hasn’t seen anyone come down to offer resources such as drug counseling or mental health care.
Interim City Manager Emily Muzzarelli said one problem the city has is finding the people they need to deal with.
The city has housing referrals for seven people. However, the city hasn’t been able to reach them to proceed further, she said.
Additionally, no landlords have taken advantage of a program designed to incentive them to house unsheltered people, Muzzarelli said.
At the end of the meeting, Dulaney asked everyone to write down what some of the problems and challenges around the issue are and some of the factors contributing to those issues and send it to him.
Dulaney said he will compile the answers to see where people agree and disagree. He said that will form the starting point of addressing the problem.
The committee will meet again in about two weeks, but Dulaney did not set an exact date.
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