Gov. Matt Mead released Wyoming’s first plan to address homelessness last week.
The plan, titled “A Home for Everyone,” lays out a strategy for addressing Wyoming homelessness over the next 10 years. The plan contains steps to identify where the homeless are located and what the state can do to remedy the causes of homelessness. The Department of Family Services and the Wyoming Homeless Collaborative, a 125 member private-public partnership for government agencies and providers, developed the plan. The annual Homeless Point-in-Time Count, conducted in January 2014, tallied 757 people without a home in Wyoming, which the state believes to be representative of a larger number.
“There is no single cause or characterization for homelessness. Families, those who suffer mental health issues, veterans and individuals who made bad choices or just had bad luck are numbered among the homeless,” Gov. Mead said. “‘A Home for Everyone’ is a plan to systematically identify and address the problem. I thank those involved for their work.”
Executive Director of the Laramie Soup Kitchen Emily Madden said the homeless situation needed to be addressed in Laramie.
“It’s definitely an issue here, a largely invisible one” Madden said.
Madden said one of the misconceptions surrounding Laramie’s homeless situation is that it consists of a mainly transient population.
“Most of the homeless in Laramie are from here,” she said. “There aren’t many high paying jobs in Laramie, and people are struggling to get by.”
Executive Director for United Way of Albany County Paul Heimer said the largest obstacles to overcoming homelessness in Wyoming are financial and political.
“We are just starting to obtain funding in this, mostly to support the creation of the 10-year plan. More is needed,” Heimer said. “This will require the continuing political commitment of the governor’s office, and assistance from the state Legislature.”
The goal of United Way is to raise money to distribute to local charities. It is also the conveners of the Albany County Homeless Taskforce, the ad hoc group focusing on homelessness in Laramie.
Heimer said until very recently, Wyoming has done very little to address homelessness.
“Our efforts have been local and mostly confined to local non-profits with mostly minor assistance from city and county governments. This is changing,” Heimer said. “Proof of that is the governor’s 10-year plan to end homelessness, ‘A Home for Everyone.’”
Matt Mead addresses constituents about his new homelessness policy. “A Home for Everyone” was signed by Mead last week and seeks to end homelessness in Wyoming.
