Fayetteville City Council members as of 2020. | Photo Courtesy of Fayetteville
Fayetteville City Council members as of 2020. | Photo Courtesy of Fayetteville
Fayetteville City Councilman Johnny Dawkins doesn’t think the city should be responsible for funding an overnight shelter being proposed for those homeless in the aftermath of COVID-19.
“We have no funding sources — city, county, or federal or state — for a homeless [overnight] shelter,” Dawkins said at a council work session in early May, The Fayetteville Observer reported on May 17. “That is not the responsibility of the city of Fayetteville. The county needs to lead on that project, and I’m sure the city will find a way to assist them [if they do that].”
While Dawkins said Cumberland County is responsible for social services, Councilwoman Courtney Banks-McLaughlin stressed action must be taken regardless.
“If for some reason the county doesn’t want to take it on, then I feel the city needs to take it on, because, at the end of the day, somebody has to take on their responsibility because it’s needed,” she said, the Fayetteville Observer reported.
Access to overnight shelters in the area are scare as the coronavirus has caused some facilities to close while many open shelters are at capacity, the Fayetteville Observer reported. There has also been a concern for how social distancing can be implemented in an overnight shelter.
The city is currently using a $3.9 million grant to develop a homeless day center, the publication reported.
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