By Eric Ayres, The Intelligencer
WHEELING, W.Va. – Wheeling City Councilman Ben Seidler on Tuesday night asserted that the city’s efforts to address homelessness “are not working” and that a new approach is needed.
During Tuesday night’s meeting of Wheeling City Council, Seidler used his portion set aside for “remarks from members of council” to deliver a program – complete with an accompanying video – to propose a new idea to help address the city’s ongoing issues pertaining to its homeless population.
“We’ve thrown a lot of time, effort and money – and our hearts – into making this problem better,” Seidler said. “I fully believe at this point that we have much less of a homeless problem than we do an addiction and mental health problem. And it’s troubling.”
Seidler noted that the city created a homeless liaison position, worked to help create a Life Hub and has consistently provided financial assistance to many local service agencies that work with the homeless.
“We have worked to consolidate camps into one central location at the request of our providers so that we could consolidate resources and hopefully get those folks through the cycle of homelessness and back on their feet,” Seidler said. “It’s just not working. Unfortunately, we still have a pretty decent number of folks down there that need rehab or mental health assistance. Our efforts are not working right now.”
