Jamestown City Council work session (September 12, 2022)
City officials and local organizations are continuing to meet to work on ways to address rising homelessness in Jamestown.
Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist updated City Council on a meeting held Monday with organizations that are part of the county’s Homeless Coalition including the Salvation Army, UCAN Mission, Chautauqua Opportunities, Southern Tier Environments for Living, UPMC, and more, “What we’ve normally seen in the past is homelessness that includes folks that have been kicked out of shelters or have been sanctioned by the county or other providers for whatever violation of services they provided. We would normally see about 25 to 30, that’s what the last census was of homeless here in the city. We are finding encampments that can be up to 50 to 70 people. And we are trying to work to deal with it.”
Sundquist said part of the discussion included planning for winter given that individuals without housing often look for abandoned houses to break into in order to stay warm.
He said the city had a meeting scheduled with with local pastors Tuesday night to discuss homelessness and how the faith community can assist. A second Homeless Coalition meeting is scheduled for later this month.
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