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City staff seek dedicated encampment coordinator and expanded outreach as unsheltered counts rise
Summary
The Office of Homelessness Prevention and Intervention proposed hiring an encampment coordinator and expanding street‑outreach funding after officials reported unsheltered counts more than doubled and encampment removals rose in 2024; the director also urged reviewing funding restrictions on the Innovative and Sustainable Solutions Fund.
Jeff Heron, director of the Office of Homelessness Prevention and Intervention (OPIE), asked the council committee to consider a dedicated encampment coordinator and additional street‑outreach staffing to address a reported rise in unsheltered homelessness and encampments across Lexington.
Heron said outreach services meet people where they are, reduce barriers to assistance and connect unsheltered individuals to emergency and permanent housing. “Simply put, we need to put more resources into this area,” he told the committee.
Heron reviewed the history of local street outreach: a 2016 pilot funded at about $75,000; a 2019–2023 assertive outreach model run by Community Action Council funded at about $280,000 per year that paired outreach with intensive case management; and a more recent contract with the Hope Center funded initially at about $300,000 and now “just over $316,000 annually,” he said. He described the Hope…
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