Funding final hurdle as Fort Wayne works to help the homeless

At the Sept. 9 City Council meeting, two ways of thinking about homelessness came head to head in an exchange between Council President Russ Jehl and grassroots advocate Sally Segerson of Street Reach for the Homeless.

Jehl and fellow council member Dr. Scott Myers have brought homelessness to the forefront of local conversations lately, calling for the city to consider strategies for clearing encampments downtown, specifically. Jehl said he sees “enabling” encampments with resources as “toxic and morally repugnant.”

Segerson, on the other hand, has been handing out blankets and supplies to homeless people downtown since 2012 and regularly provides updates to council from the front lines. Rather than enabling, she sees her work as “keeping someone alive long enough to get a different cha