Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams announced the kickoff of the county’s Homelessness Services Collective Impact Council Thursday.
The list of those at the first meeting at the Gallivan Center included government, business and nonprofit partners. McAdams says the first steps as a group will be to set a common agenda and define success.
“In the same day I can hear people say what an amazing job Utah is doing in leading the nation on ending homelessness and then I hear people say homelessness is worse than it’s ever been and I think both of those are true,” says McAdams.
The County Mayor says the county is one of the primary funders of the $40 million dollars in total annual spending for homeless services in the Salt Lake Valley.
“So what we want to do from the services side is look at how well are we doing, are we working collectively,” McAdams says, “Are the various providers who are serving our homeless working and coordinating together to move the needle and to see success?”
McAdams says the county is working with Salt Lake City’s efforts to answer downtown businesses’ and resident’s concerns about homeless people. He says everyone concerned deserves programs that improve their quality of life.