MANCHESTER, NH — A team of health professionals from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (NH DHHS) and Granite Pathways arrived Monday morning at the New Horizons NH homeless shelter to assess and help the city’s mounting homeless population.
The health team is expected to be at the shelter for several days.
“We are trying to hook people up with services,” said Jeffrey A. Meyers, NH DHHS commissioner.
He said most of the homeless are eligible for Medicaid, food stamps and housing assistance.
The state recognizes the “crisis Manchester has been dealing and we want to help,” he said. For those individuals from outside the Manchester hub, he said staff would be looking to find them emergency beds elsewhere.
People will be connected to the state’s three Medicaid managed care programs: AmeriHealth Caritas New Hampshire, NH Healthy Families and Well Sense Health Plan.
Auxiliary police officer Maureen Tessier, who retired Aug. 1 after a 30-year career with the police department, was detailed to the facility at the request of DHHS. She was clearly acting as a deterrent since there were far fewer people sitting on the sidewalk, belongings at their side, than on Saturday when Fire Chief Daniel Goonan said he counted about 40 people.
On Saturday, ambulances were sent to the shelter a total of 12 times for reported drug overdoses. Five people were transported to the hospital. Goonan said emergency responders believe a bad batch of spice, synthetic marijuana, had hit the streets and caused the overdoses.
Meyers said he heard people were staying away because of the drug overdoses. Many could be found about a block away in Victory Park.
Fire Chief Dan Goonan said this is the first time the state is taking “a hard look at the homeless” in Manchester. He said city officials have pushed hard in asking the state for help.
According to the mayor’s office, the timing of the DHHS visit was not related to the rash of weekend overdoses. It is something that has been in the works ever since last month’s public plea to Gov. Chris Sununu and DHHS Commissioner Jeffrey Meyers to come to Manchester and “fix the Doorway” system, which has created increased demand at the Manchester shelter.
Mayor Joyce Craig said the five NH DHHS staff members were at the shelter to connect individuals to substance use, healthcare and housing services.
“I am grateful the State has finally listened to the needs of our community and is working in collaboration with our fire, police, health and EMS professionals,” she said in a statement. “While this move is a step in the right direction, there is still much more that needs to be done.”
She said that list includes:
- continued evaluation of the Doorway Program, the statewide opiate treatment system, and ensuring the same services are available across the state, not just in Manchester.
- more year-round homeless shelters and emergency beds across the state, not just in Manchester.
- easier ways for individuals in recovery to have, and keep, jobs.
- more housing built for people who are homeless, and for people in recovery.
“The City of Manchester has been committed to working together to make positive change in our state’s addiction epidemic,” Craig said. “As a community, and as a state, we have a shared responsibility to help our most vulnerable residents.”
Last month, Craig, Goonan, Police Chief Carlo Capano, and Health Department Director Anna Thomas held a news conference at which they said the state needed to fix its Doorway program so that Manchester doesn’t continue to be overwhelmed by people seeking help.
City officials cited that program, implemented in January by the Gov. Chris Sununu administration, as the reason Manchester is being inundated by people with mental illness, severe drug addictions and the homeless.
The idea behind Doorway was that those needing help would be within an hour’s drive of receiving treatment and close to their community.
Last year, Safe Station served 395 people from outside the Manchester hub including people from out-of-state. Through Aug. 30, there have been 585 people from outside the area, a 48 percent jump.
Meyers said it is difficult to ascertain where people are from because many of the homeless do not have IDs.
