City aldermen vote to dissolve housing stability department
May 8—Less than a year after its creation, Manchester aldermen voted Tuesday to dissolve the city's Department of Housing Stability and place the director and staff positions under the umbrella of the mayor's office.
The vote was 11-3, with Aldermen Pat Long, Christine Fajardo and Tony Sapienza opposed.
The vote came at the request of Mayor Jay Ruais, just weeks after the department's former director, Adrienne Beloin, agreed to resign her position as part of a $57,000 settlement with the city after comments she made at a public meeting and on a radio program upset some city officials.
Ruais said he doesn't believe the position of director of homelessness initiatives should be housed in another department like fire, health, welfare or planning and community development.
"There needs to be an individual responsible for coordinating these efforts for all departments and the city," Ruais said. "I do not believe we need a department to effectively address this challenge. Historically, this role has been housed within the mayor's office."
"We are currently interviewing to fill the position of director of homelessness initiatives, and we will not go backwards."
Prior to Tuesday's vote, former Manchester mayoral candidate and school board member Rich Girard urged board members to receive and file the mayor's request.
"If Manchester continues to go further and faster down this failed road, it will lead to even greater ruin," Girard said. "There is no precedent for any paid positions offering the scope of services, or any services, proposed by the mayor and it shouldn't be agreed to as the position seems to have encouraged more vagrancy with an all-carrots, no-sticks approach that subsidizes their behavior with EBT cards, Obama phones, Medicaid, cash assistance and a relentless parade of giveaways that make their vagrant existence comfortable, no strings attached.
"The city does not belong in the business of managing homeless services, including operating or even funding shelters or so called engagement centers, especially when they're little more than flop houses with all day coffee."
Alderman Tony Sapienza questioned whether the director's position would be a permanent or political position if the department were dissolved.
"Is it going to be a permanent professional position, or is it going to be at the will of the current mayor, which could change almost every two years or so?" asked Sapienza. "When the mayor changes, he takes his whole office with him."
"This is always going to be at the will of whomever follows myself," Ruais said, adding the ARPA money used to fund the position ends in 2026. "This is a conversation the board was going to have regardless."
"I've spoken with the mayor on many occasions about this," Alderman Joe Kelly Levasseur said. "He strongly believes that the city should have a homeless coordinator. Whether or not there's a department of the city falls upon whether the position stays in place for one year or five years or forever. That falls on the budgeting process by the aldermen and the mayor."
Manchester officials have posted the job of director of homelessness initiatives on the city's website.
The job posting lists the position's salary as between $80,000 and $100,000 a year, with duties including providing administrative oversight to operations and activities related to the city's response to homelessness, as well as community outreach services to reduce the rate of homelessness in Manchester.
Beloin earned a salary of $104,219 in fiscal year 2023, according to salary and benefit data released by City Hall.
Beloin resigned effective 5 p.m., April 12.
