Governor Gina Raimondo and other General Officers talk with homeless men at a shelter in Cranston. Photo by Steve Klamkin WPRO News
By Steve Klamkin WPRO News
In a men’s shelter packed to overflowing, Governor Gina Raimondo and other newly elected state leaders Tuesday pledged to help end homelessness in Rhode Island.
“I love the goal of ending homelessness,” Raimondo told homeless men and advocates at the Harrington Hall shelter at the state’s Howard Complex in Cranston.
“We know how to do it. Build affordable housing and get people homes, and the fact of the matter is nobody should be homeless,” said Raimondo. She said that as a long-serving board member of Crossroads, a major homeless shelter and service agency in Providence, she is well versed in the problems of homelessness in Rhode Island.
“A couple of guys I just talked to are actually working, but they don’t make enough in their jobs, so they’re homeless. So, it means that we have to redouble our efforts to get people good jobs, self-supporting family-supporting jobs. And we do need to commit ourselves to ending homelessness. We’ve got to find people homes, it’s less expensive and its just the right thing to do,” Raimondo said.
Harrington Hall is run by the House of Hope Community Development Center, and Executive Director Jean Johnson was asked if she has a message for the governor.
“Our previous governor started this process, but I know that she’s the one who’s going to be able to end it,” Johnson said. She has also set a goal of ending homelessness by February, 2016.
“We’re going to have the success that we want by 2/16 we are going to end chronic homelessness and veteran’s homelessness in our state of Rhode Island,” she said.
While supportive, Raimondo questioned whether the goal can be met in 13 months.
“It’s a good goal, I don’t know if that’s a feasible goal. They have an excellent plan starting with homeless veterans.
It’s a goal we have to commit ourselves to, because it’s the right thing to do, we shouldn’t have homeless people,” she said.
