603 Diversity: News Briefs NH mayors call for more state action on homelessness crisis

Eight New Hampshire mayors made a unified call for Gov. Chris Sununu and state officials to take more action to help the state’s unhoused population.

News Collaborative.

These articles were adapted from stories shared by and with partners in The Granite State News Collaborative as part of our race and equity project. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

“The State of New Hampshire’s systems of care for individuals experiencing or at-risk of homelessness are not meeting the needs of communities across the state and are contributing to a statewide homelessness crisis,” the mayors wrote in a letter sent earlier this year.

But in response to the letter, Sununu’s office defended the investments they already made and criticized cities like Manchester for not effectively using the funds they already have.

Eight of New Hampshire’s 13 mayors — including those in Manchester, Nashua, Claremont and Dover — signed onto the letter. The call for action comes after a series of incidents in Manchester that underscored the severity of the state’s homelessness crisis: Two unhoused people died, and a baby was hospitalized after his mother, who was unhoused, allegedly gave birth in frigid conditions. The mayors and other public officials say nonprofit organizations and community action programs that support the unhoused can’t handle the pace at which the state’s homelessness crisis is growing.

The American Friends Service Committee, which coordinates Homeless Persons Memorial Day efforts in New Hampshire, reported that at least 95 unhoused people died here in 2022. According to the New Hampshire Coalition to End Homelessness, the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness nearly tripled from 2019 to 2021. Housing rights advocates and public officials have reported that they’ve had to turn individuals away from their winter shelters because they don’t have enough beds available.

— JEONGYOON HAN, NH PUBLIC RADIO