COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (KMTV) — Kristine Richardson is worried about the next place she will live. She's living in a tent near The Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge, but she has to move because of development along the riverfront in Council Bluffs.
- The Homeless Outreach Project in Council Bluffs is a collaboration between social service agencies, the Council Bluffs Police Department and healthcare professionals. Its goal is the connect people living outside with services.
- "This first phase, ideally what we're trying to do, is identify who's out there, what are their needs and are we able to connect them to the services?” said Officer Dan Stuck. “A lot of them out there that don't realize what all these services are."
- "They're going to help me pack up and leave, to get things to storage and no longer stay down here," said Kristine Richardson.
- Video shows: an encampment in the woods along the Missouri River in Council Bluffs, interviews with Council Bluffs police officers and an interview with a staff member of Micah House.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Kristine Richardson lives in a tent, along the riverfront, in Council Bluffs. And now, because of riverfront development, she's going to have to move.
I'm your southwest Iowa neighborhood reporter Katrina Markel and I met with Kristine at her campsite to talk about what happens next.
Kristine Richardson has been living just north of the Bob Kerrey Bridge since August: "Nobody would choose this, no..."
As the U.S. Supreme Court considers the legality of local laws banning long-term homeless encampments, Council Bluffs has a new, different approach.
The new Council Bluffs Homeless Outreach Project, or HOP, offers assistance to people living outside.
Dan Stuck is one of three police officers on the HOP team. it also includes social workers and, soon, a behavioral health specialist.
"This first phase, ideally what we're trying to do, is identify who's out there, what are their needs and are we able to connect them to the services?” said Stuck. “A lot of them out there that don't realize what all these services are."
"They're going to help me pack up and leave, to get things to storage and no longer stay down here," said Richardson.
Kristine says she ended up on the riverfront after an eviction. Her father helped manage her money, but now, he is ill and unable to help.
"My best friend. My only friend I call him," she said.
Solutions aren't simple.
Angie Williams is the program director at Micah House, an emergency shelter participating in HOP.
She says the new approach in Council Bluffs is part of a bigger shift toward a trauma-informed approach to helping people who are unhoused.
"You want to give those people voice and choice of what they want,” said Williams. “And those who have been in chronic homelessness, living on the streets, they become accustomed to that.
Richardson was given a new tent on Tuesday and social service workers found a new campsite. Stuck says the HOP team is working with her.
The police say, as of Wednesday, they've been in contact with 135 people.
Ultimately, the goal is to connect more people with help, rather than citing and arresting them.
