Imagine sheltering in place during the start of the coronavirus pandemic without having a home to shelter in. Sadly, more than 580,000 individuals in the United States experienced homelessness in 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the fourth consecutive annual increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness. In an effort to help those experiencing homelessness during the pandemic, city officials acted quickly to help people find temporary shelter. Now, without lockdown restrictions in place, cities are facing new challenges as they move people from temporary shelters like hotels to group shelters and as eviction moratoriums lift.
The pandemic has changed the way cities tackle almost every issue, and Bloomberg Associates, the pro-bono consulting arm of Bloomberg Philanthropies, works side-by-side with cities around the world to address homelessness.
Earlier this summer, Tamiru Mammo and Linda Gibbs, who work on Bloomberg Associates’ social services team, co-authored a book entitled How Ten Global Cities Take on Homelessness: Innovations That Work alongside Jay Bainbridge and Muzzy Rosenblatt, their colleagues from the City of New York during the Bloomberg administration.
The book provides a deep-dive into how ten cities – Bogotá, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Houston, Nashville, New York City, Baltimore, Edmonton, Paris, and Athens – have addressed street homelessness.
On this episode, Tamiru Mammo and Jay Bainbridge join the podcast to discuss what stands out about how these cities are tackling homelessness, what successful solutions look like, and what the new normal looks like in terms of tackling this issue going forward.
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For more about Bloomberg Associates’ work with cities, we recommend: