Despite some public perception, those who work with him say Fall River Mayor Coogan doing what he can for homeless

While some Fall River residents have recently argued that the 6th floor doesn’t care about the city’s homeless, those who work closely with him say it’s not so.

The State of Massachusetts has begun removing the residents of Fall River homeless encampments leaving residents to wonder what will happen to those who call a tent home.

Homeless Outreach Coordinator and Fall River Addiction, Support, and Treatment Team member Nichole Fontaine states that despite some public perception, Mayor Paul Coogan is doing what he can to help those who are struggling.

“I promise you this mayor cares more than any mayor I have ever seen. He just created a pilot program to help pay for displaced homeless into sober homes, opened Timao center the last year which is a drop-in center that provided food, laundry, showers, services every day for the first time in Fall River history (Timao has since closed), created a homeless work program, bought 2 trailers for homeless to utilize..1 has laundry and bathrooms, the other has showers and bathrooms.”

Fontaine also stated that she gets contacted by the mayor on the issue past the typical 9-5.

“I get called by the mayor at all hours, holidays, weekends etc. When he encounters a homeless person looking for services. He goes into the encampments with us.”

Fontaine stated that there are multiple issues that exacerbates the problem.

“The real problem is that there’s not enough beds in shelters. They’re full most of the time. The other problem is the few citizens who are offended seeing homeless people that incessantly call and complain or go to every city council meeting to push them out.”

The homeless problem is more than a Fall River problem according to Fontaine, but despite that, she believes Coogan is doing what he can for all citizens.

“As mayor, he has to work for every citizen and he’s truly doing all that he can to keep everyone happy but there’s a national crisis.”