It’s Jan. 21, it’s again freezing outside, and now there’s snow on the ground.

And yet Rhode Island leaders and service provers are once again scrambling to ensure every homeless person in the state has a roof over their heads and a warm place to stay.

At 2 p.m., the Senate Oversight Committee and Committee on Housing & Municipal Government are holding a joint hearing to discuss the state Department of Housing’s response to homelessness in Rhode Island.

I asked State Senator Jake Bissaillon, the new chair of the Housing & Municipal Government, to explain what he hopes to achieve with today’s hearing.

Q: Hearings like the one you’re holding tonight have a tendency to produce more theater than substance. What would success look like coming out of this hearing?
 
Bissaillon: Success means more people spend the night inside, and fewer people spend it outside. I am looking for an honest assessment of the current challenges facing Rhode Island’s response to homelessness, a clear plan to immediately address the most acute deficiencies, and genuine requests for legislative support where needed. This will only happen if theatrics are kept to a minimum. Success is only achieved through collaboration—only the chattering class cares about Capitol TV crossfire.

Q: What’s the No. 1 question on your mind heading into tonight?
 
Bissaillon: How can we help? Oversight Committee Chairman Mark McKenney and I heard from many colleagues, providers, and concerned citizens about the issue of homelessness before we decided to schedule this hearing. Tonight is a chance to hear from those responsible for our state’s response to homelessness and working every day on the frontlines: Department of Housing leadership, Crossroads, and House of Hope. It’s an opportunity to learn, engage, and start a constructive dialogue to earnestly address this growing issue. Everyone needs to realize the issue of homelessness isn’t getting better. Decades of underinvestment and poor policymaking have laid it bare before our eyes. We’re talking a 30 percent increase year over year. Let’s own it and move forward. We will all need to be a part of the solution.
 
Q: Separate from tonight, your chair the committee – Housing and Municipal Government – that will vet whether Deborah Goddard should be the new housing secretary. How much should tonight be thought of as a tryout for Goddard?
 
Bissaillon: I can’t speak for Secretary Godard but tonight certainly feels like a tryout for me. The Senate Committee on Housing and Municipal Government was chaired by the late senator Frank Lombardo for six years before he passed away last year. Frank was a pragmatic and thoughtful public servant, so I am deeply humbled by Senate President Dominick Ruggerio’s faith in me to chair the committee when the entire state seems focused on housing.
 
With regards to Secretary Goddard, I think tonight is an opportunity for her to begin a dialogue with committee members about the necessary realignment of certain housing functions within state government behind the Department of Housing. 

Many believe the department’s slow start is due to the lack of clear alignment of state resources and housing functions behind the agency. It might surprise your readers to learn that many of our state’s housing functions are siloed throughout our state government, which makes a coordinated vision and approach difficult. Senator Tiara Mack also pointed out in a letter to Governor Dan McKee two weeks ago that we have had three directors of the Department of Housing in as many years as well as significant turnover at the agency. Acting Secretary Goddard has more professional experience in housing than her three predecessors combined, so I’m eager to work with her to bolster the department’s mission by creating a true, fully resourced, and functioning Department of Housing. 
 
Q: After tonight’s hearing, what are some examples of policies you’d like to consider this legislative session for ensuring that we aren’t having the same conversation next winter?
 
Bissaillon: First and foremost, I want to see a new shelter placement process for those experiencing homelessness. I am not a provider, but I think using the coordinated entry system for shelter placements creates an unnecessary bottleneck. It’s not required by HUD and overcomplicates the state’s response to homelessness. Do we really need folks experiencing homelessness to complete a survey and await prioritization before receiving a shelter placement when there are open beds and freezing temperatures? I’d like to see that done away with so folks can have immediate access to shelter.
 
Also, state housing functions programs like the Rhode Island Continuum of Care, which manages our state's homelessness response, should be moved to the Department of Housing to streamline our state’s housing response (just one example of better alignment of our state’s housing programs). Additionally, we need a streamlined permitting process for future projects like Echo Village so the state can be more responsive to the homelessness crisis. Tonight’s insights will shape these policies.
 
Q: Your Senate district includes ECHO Village, where the pallet shelters are still vacant. Governor McKee has expressed hesitance to using an executive order to force the shelters to open. If you were governor, how would you handle it differently?
 
Bissaillon: I commend Governor McKee for supporting the idea of Echo Village in the first place and I thank him for standing by the premise of Echo Village while many of his peers across the country have backed away from more progressive housing policies. Still, in for a penny in for a pound, so I’d have signed an executive order and told folks to work around the clock until those shelters are open.