Mayor Craig understands the challenges presented by the issue of homelessness in Manchester. She has fostered a relationship between the city with non-profits, community organizations, faith-based organizations, and unhoused populations to offer services, provide beds to sleep, and institute fatality prevention and public safety measures. She has coordinated with Mayors across the state to look for a statewide solution, while offering strategic steps forward at the local level.
Helping End Homelessness:
- Utilizing federal funds, hired a Director of Homelessness Initiatives for the first time in Manchester’s history to coordinate efforts with residents, nonprofits, faith-based organizations and business partners to continue ensuring Manchester effectively addresses this issue.
- Partnered with Families in Transition (FIT) to open two temporary emergency shelters, as a fatality prevention measure to ensure we had enough places for people to stay during the cold months.
- Collaborated with all 13 mayors across New Hampshire who all acknowledged homelessness is the stop issue in their communities; working together to push the State to provide updates to the 2006 statewide plan to address homelessness, leading the municipal effort to ensure we tackle this issue at the statewide level.
- Developed an outreach team at the Manchester Fire Department to connect with unhoused individuals living at the encampments, to provide services and refer them to treatment and housing resources.
- Instituted benchmarks, metrics and data tracking non-profits must meet in order to receive federal funds allocated through the City.
- Released the Mayor’s Affordable Housing Taskforce Report, making recommendations to City zoning ordinances, how to better utilize city property, expanding the City’s ADU ordinances, a housing resource portal as well as a Housing Commission, to track progress on the report’s recommendations, provide updates to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen and connect with the community on housing issues.