Homelessness will be front and center once again tonight at a special work session of the Joplin City Council.
Joplin has held numerous work sessions and city council meetings regarding homelessness over the past year, it isn’t the only community that has held convened city council meetings in the past handful of months to focus on the issue.
Recently, the Pittsburg City Commission has also held public meetings about the rising number of homeless individuals in the community and to speak about ways to improve the situation.
According to information on Joplin’s city website, JoplinMo.org representatives from the non-profit consultant group Sharity will provide an 84-page slide presentation providing a timeline update on their work.
According to Sharity’s presentation, the non-profit links the lack of affordable housing in Joplin to the 2011 tornado that destroyed roughly 4,400 homes causing 2.8 billion dollars in damage. Sharity claims that the destruction of affordable housing due to the tornado created a lack of affordable housing today that has never been restored.
In addition, the average cost of rent has increased by 202 dollars over the past five years, with 100 dollars of that increase occurring in the past year. As a result, homelessness in Joplin is up 18%.
The special work session tonight gets underway at 5:45.
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