Share this @internewscast.com
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — A coalition of organizations behind a project to temporarily house individuals facing homelessness displaced by the World Games in “microshelters” will hold a media briefing and public discussion on June 23 at 8 a.m.
In a statement posted to Medium Wednesday evening, organizers of the “Compassion Project” invited “individuals with concerns, questions, or contributing resources” to attend the event, which will take place at Faith Chapel Care Center, located at 921 Second Ave. North.
The project, a collaboration between city officials, the World Games, and local nonprofits, aims to temporarily house individuals facing homeless who officials have said will be displaced by the security perimeter of the games.
Officials have not provided an estimate of the number of people who will be displaced by the World Games, which will begin next month. Around 40 to 48 of those individuals will be offered placement in small, wooden structures officials have referred to both as “tiny homes” and “microshelters.”
Some nationally-renowned experts, local nonprofit leaders and those who have experienced street homelessness here in Birmingham are skeptical of the plan, criticizing its temporary impact and questioning its intent. The solution to homelessness, they say, isn’t providing “substandard” shelters for the length of the World Games; the solution is funding adequate, affordable and permanent housing for folks living on the city’s streets.
