Joplin had struggled with combatting its homeless problem for years. Tonight during the information portion of the Joplin City Council meeting we’ll learn about their latest effort. KRPS’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.
According to the latest published figures by the Joplin Homeless Coalition last April, the number of homeless individuals in the city is down by 22%.
Last year's Point-In-Time count located 210 homeless people in Joplin. Earlier this year theJoplin City Councilapproved a contract for Winter Park, Florida-based Sharity to assist the city in better understanding how to manage its homelessness problem and improve it. According to Sharity’s presentation, available on JoplinMo.org the organization is in the Data Mapping and Community Mapping phase of their timeline.
Earlier this year Sharity received nearly 1,100 submissions to its homelessness survey which showed overwhelmingly that participants wanted the homelessness issue improved in Joplin about 60% were either not involved in helping or had no connection to the issue.
The greatest concerns were panhandling transfer of homeless people to Joplin from other communities and the construction of affordable housing, and better coordination of services.
The informal portion of the Joplin City Council meeting gets underway tonight at 5:15.
