Agenda - 05-18-1993 - VII-D - Laserfiche WebLink

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1 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Action Agenda Item No. 1//Z-O ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: May 18 , 1993 SUBJECT: Homeless Women and Children Task Force Report and Recommendations DEPARTMENT: PUBLIC HEARING: Yes x No Commission for Women ATTACHMENT(S) : INFORMATION CONTACT: . Task Force Report Lucy Lewis, ext 2251 (Under separate cover) TELEPHONE NUMBER: Hillsborough - 732-8181 Chapel Hill - 968-4501 Durham - 688-7331 Mebane - 227-2031 PURPOSE: To receive a report from the Orange County Homeless Women and Children Task Force and consider the recommendations addressed to the Board of Commissioners . BACKGROUND: Concerned about the growing number of homeless women and children in Orange County, the Commission for Women initiated a countywide Task Force in 1991 to study the problem and develop recommendations to address this important community issue. The Task Force presented its findings at a Community Forum on February 17, 1993 . The Task Force developed draft recommendations based on the outcome from the Forum and the work of the Task Force, and sent copies to all the elected bodies and agencies to whom recommendations were addressed for their review and comment. This report includes the Task Force findings and final recommendations. The Task Force reported that homeless women and children are the fastest growing sector of the homeless population in Orange County. In 1992, 186 women and 95 children received services at the Inter-Faith Council Community House; the Orange/Durham Coalition for Battered Women provided emergency and transitional shelter for 29 women and 24 children from Orange County. Some of the causes of homelessness are obvious - poverty; lack of affordable housing, or severe mental illness or substance abuse problems . But many of the contributing factors to the situation are more insidious and subtle. These problems include the