For Immediate Release: September 26, 2005
Contact: Ruth Peebles, 463-1367

Where will the homeless live?

Part two in the Ending Homelessness in Durham Series

DURHAM, NC – The 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness in Durham Project sponsored by the City and County of Durham and Triangle United Way will host the public forum “Where will the homeless live?” on Thursday, Oct. 6. The event will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Nehemiah Christian Center located at 514 North Mangum Street in Durham. 

Richard Lee, Executive Director of Durham Affordable Housing Coalition and Martha Are, Homeless Policy Specialist for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, will deliver an informative presentation about Durham's current and proposed housing models. A community feedback and question and answer session will follow the presentation.

Like many other communities, Durham faces the challenge of how and where the homeless will live.  Some of the questions that will be asked include: Do we need more shelters, transitional housing programs, or permanent housing?  Are we willing to embrace a Durham with an increasing number of people living in camps, abandoned houses, and under highway bridges? Should they live next door, downtown, or in the suburbs? 
 
Community members are strongly encouraged to attend this and other forums scheduled in the upcoming months on this topic.  The forums along with a series of committee meetings and focus groups will aid in the development of a 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness in Durham.  The plan will move the city and county from managing homelessness to preventing and eliminating homelessness.

For more information, visit www.EndHomelessnessInDurham.org or e-mail questions or comments to info@endhomelessnessindurham.org.

 

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