City councilwoman fears impact of budget cuts on homeless

A Philadelphia City Councilwoman is concerned about how the city will handle the homeless amid budget cuts.

Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell said she’s worried that shelters will close as part of the city’s downsized budget.

“They talked about the workers we wouldn’t have with these cuts,” she said. “We wouldn’t have intake workers, we wouldn’t have social workers. Not only would we close shelters, we wouldn’t have people to talk to you. If we had a shelter open we wouldn’t have employees there.”

The councilwoman said the potential cuts are dramatic and will be felt by people who can least afford them.

“Across-the-board cuts are millions of dollars,” she said. “It frightens me. Some dollars should be exempt from cuts.”

Blackwell has told city officials to come up with alternate plans to deal with the funding cuts and come back to the council with a solution. She said the current plan doesn’t work.