{"id":20248,"date":"2021-01-19T18:53:47","date_gmt":"2021-01-19T18:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shadowproof.com\/?p=220651"},"modified":"2021-01-19T18:53:47","modified_gmt":"2021-01-19T18:53:47","slug":"new-hampshires-homeless-fight-for-shelter-despite-forceful-encampment-evictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/19\/new-hampshires-homeless-fight-for-shelter-despite-forceful-encampment-evictions\/","title":{"rendered":"New Hampshire\u2019s Homeless Fight For Shelter Despite Forceful Encampment Evictions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Manchester, New Hampshire\u2019s unhoused population and local community organizers have struggled with state and local officials to secure housing and resources for the unhoused during the COVID-19 pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following the November 20 forceful eviction of an encampment by state officials and unwillingness from people in power to support new housing solutions, homeless people and organizers alike are struggling to resolve the lack of access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Manchester had at least 35 documented homeless encampments<\/a> as of October 2019, but the unhoused population<\/a> has risen since the pandemic began. Despite this, the state has not revamped its plan for homelessness since 2006. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A report released in December<\/a> 2020 by the New Hampshire Coalition to End Homelessness (NHCEH) found that the number of unsheltered unhoused people in Manchester ballooned from 170 in July to 480 in late November of that year. Nearly 40 percent of the state\u2019s homeless population and 60 percent of the unsheltered population reside in-and-around Manchester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NHCEH Director Stephanie Savard attributed the rise to problems preceding the pandemic, such as rising housing prices, eviction rates, and unemployment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe were riding a wave of that perfect storm for many years,\u201d Savard told the Concord Monitor<\/a>. \u201cWith the pandemic, we hit a tidal wave.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the report, Black and multiracial people are four times as likely as white people to experience homelessness in the state; despite making up nearly 3 percent of the statewide population, they make up about 10 percent of the homeless population. The numbers are starkly similar for Hispanic\/Latinx people in New Hampshire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NHCEH\u2019s report was published after weeks of disagreement between state and local officials. On November 5, fourteen New Hampshire mayors sent a letter<\/a> to Governor Chris Sununu (R) calling on him to prioritize a new plan for the state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The letter referenced the impact of COVID-19 on the shelter system statewide, which restricted capacity as the service population increased: between 2014 and 2018, there was a 5 percent increase in unhoused individuals and a 6 percent increase in unhoused families. <\/p>\n\n\n\n