The homelessness crisis has gripped America for decades. We see it here in Portsmouth: folks taking shelter in doorways downtown, tent communities near Portsmouth Regional Hospital, and extreme affordable housing shortages forcing people to live out of their cars.

New Hampshire, though a small state, had almost 5,000 homeless people in 2021 according to a report by the NH Coalition to End Homelessness. The epidemic is exemplified in our own home state, but what has been done about it?

Not enough.

A group of eight New Hampshire mayors gathered in January 2023 to write a joint letter to Governor Chris Sununu about the homelessness crisis. “The state of New Hampshire’s systems of care for individuals experiencing or at-risk of homelessness are not meeting the needs of communities across the state and are contributing to a statewide homelessness crisis” stated the letter. It slams Sununu for not responding to an earlier letter by mayors in 2020 that also demanded improvement.

Notably, the most recent letter says that the state provides eight dollars a day per homeless person for emergency shelter, when the cost is really forty-five dollars a day. This stark difference forces unhoused people to live on the streets and in tent encampments rather than shelters.

In New Hampshire, weather plays a strong role in an individual’s ability to survive outside. On Christmas Day in 2022, Manchester police found a woman frozen to death in her tent, says the Manchester Ink Link. In early March, Seacoast Online reported a deceased homeless man in Exeter. Weather and health issues are believed to be the cause of his death.

How many more people have to die before the New Hampshire government makes the crisis a priority? Manchester mayor Joyce Craig requested in the letter that an unused, state-owned building on Brook Street be used as a shelter, but Governor Sununu has yet to allow it. The lack of emergency housing is a sheer failure on the government’s part. Many state-owned buildings could be converted into transitional shelters.

The government must also tackle the root of the problem: the reason why so many people are unhoused. There is a hodge-podge of causes, like mental health issues, veterans struggling to find well-paying jobs, and the lack of affordable housing.

New Hampshire leaders must make room in the budget to fund programs for at-risk citizens, like those with mental health problems and veterans. These programs can make sure people get the help and intervention they need before they reach the point where they are homeless.

Portsmouth is already starting to build more affordable housing, which is a good stride forward. Ruth’s Place is an apartment complex dedicated to providing workforce housing with low costs, according to SeacoastOnline. New Hampshire town governments as well as the state government must keep working towards creating more spaces for people to live.

Money must be set aside to forge these programs and help get families off the streets of New Hampshire. This era of stagnancy from the Sununu administration must end now.