City Councilwoman Martinez Submits Resolution To Combat Homelessness

Housing (or its lack regarding homelessness) as an issue is moral and practical as well as essentially financial. It can face all humans at various times of life.
Perhaps this resolution can be best viewed starting from:
#7 assuming it is adopted. But since it does not identify actions, with quality or quantities specified, it can possibly come to nothing because of failure on the part of framers of the resolution to indicate what form of oversight or enforcement will occur. Volunteers need specific actions, with specific resources, and a simple purpose. Can any Council person share the number of unhoused or homeless people (including those who wish to stay unhoused considering their alternatives today). Where are the ‘active’ verbs?
#6 does not identify a schedule of expected periods or what kind of things that the Council may request.
#5 addresses members from the community who volunteer for the responsibility but mention no qualifications, experience for their ‘advisory services’ that may go into their selection and by whom.
#4 notes ‘coordination’ with existing departments and service providers (without noting who these ‘existing community actors’ may be. Why are they not specified and instructed as to what meets ‘coordination’?)
#3 tells Volunteers what not to do in their service or puts some limits on action. Where are the actual positive action verbs?
#2 is a statement of purpose, but unworkable with the current attention span of the Council and its subcommittees IMO. The activities likely conflict without a broader frame of Housing Options for Humans, for instance.
#1 creates another City Committee…….are you really serious? How is that working? Perhaps if the Mayor got on board of encouraging public service including board membership, and support from a member of his cabinet who cares we might get to the bottom of why more Bridgeport citizens who rent are covered by the City Housing Authority, a HUD operation that has its own website but is listed on the City site also, although it has two vacancies currently and two citizens serving expired terms plus a resident of the Authority. How does Bridgeport or the folks who live outside of certain public housing authority units including ‘scattered site’?
Not to beat a disabled horse, but I have been addressing City Council members to respect expiries and vacancies on Boards and Commission for the better part of ten years. More specifically I have been specifically noting the absence of Fair Rent and Fair Housing bodies over 20 years where work on homelessness might profitably proceed if there was sufficient evidence and concern about human beings. There is NO Fair Housing today. And Fair Rent is limping along with City Departments failing to provide the support, counsel, and training that other municipalities do for their Rental Commissions.
Three minutes at a time, prepared comments are spoken by me, yet fail response from too many Council members, especially on the CASUAL CIVICS CONVERSATIONS project steadily growing within the City. First offered to the City Council 18 months ago, it operates in several Council Districts. Welcome to Wood’s End Deli at 8am Saturday 2-21-26. See you there or at your location? Time will tell.