County official says Coming Home coordinates case management under county plan to end homelessness

At the meeting, public commenter Charlie Crabill asked for an update on the county plan to end homelessness and the county’s use of a grant to implement that plan. Crabill identified himself as editor of New Brunswick Today and asked, “Can we get an update on this plan? You know, where we're at for ending homelessness?”

A county official responding at the meeting said the agency created by the county in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and United Way — identified in the meeting as the entity that implements the plan to end homelessness — continues to coordinate care management and case processing. The official described the county’s current focus as increasing affordable housing and prevention efforts to keep people housed rather than cycling through homeless services.

The official said the county agency known as Coming Home conducts weekly care-management coordination, represents the county in a national collaborative called Built for Zero, and works with providers and municipalities. The official added that recent changes at the federal level may affect how homelessness initiatives are coordinated: “we no longer have United States Emergency Council on Homelessness,” the official said, and that federal shifts will influence future programming.

The response noted that the county previously pursued a 10-year plan (dating to 2008) and that the plan no longer includes a fixed 10-year timeline; the official described that historical context as background to current coordination efforts.