What was formerly the City of Greensboro’s Office of Community Safety, led by Latisha McNeil, is now a city department: the Community Safety Department.
According to a statement from city officials regarding the new department, “This endeavor to create a community-centered and safe Greensboro for all residents and visitors, will continue to convene police, community partners, and City leadership to discuss crime, mental health and the root causes of violence.”
The department will be part of the City Manager’s Office, under the guidance of Assistant City Manager Andrea Harrell.
As part of the upgrade from office to department, there’s also been an expansion of services.
The city has grown the department’s Homeless Outreach Mobile Engagement program – also known as GSO HOME. That initiative offers intervention and other services to Greensboro’s “difficult-to-reach, high-risk unsheltered population.”
The problem of homelessness in Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem has proven to be extremely recalcitrant in Guilford County (and in many other parts of the country), and, in recent years, the local governments of this area have been attempting to address the problem.
City officials hope this new push – announced at a time when the weather is likely to be as cold as it gets all year – will make real inroads in addressing the problem in Greensboro.
The issue of homelessness was a major topic of discussion in 2024 due largely to problems that resulted when the downtown Interactive Resource Center switched from being a day service for the homeless to being a 24/7 operation. Late in 2024, the center scaled back its hours.
Guilford County government, the city of Greensboro, area churches and others have been attempting to fill in the holes.
Guilford County, the cities in it, and community partners that battle homelessness are currently gearing up to get a better idea of the extent of the problem in the county. In every odd-numbered year, as required by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, local governments, organizations and groups of volunteers take to the streets and attempt to count, at a single point in time, all of the homeless in the community.
This year that count in Guilford County will start on Wednesday, Jan. 29 and run through Thursday, Jan. 30.
The bitter cold, the coming count and the major problems resulting from the homeless crisis has put the matter on the front burner for many local leaders.
Currently, Guilford County and the cities have major initiatives to create more beds that can be used by the homeless.
This new City of Greensboro Department and the expansion of services includes undertaking all of the city’s efforts to find and offer warm emergency housing for the homeless and the other most at-risk people.
Greensboro City Manager Trey Davis said this week, “The challenges and unique needs of our unhoused neighbors necessitated the creation of the Community Safety Department.”
Davis also said that the new department with expanded services should allow its director, Latisha McNeil to leverage resources that already exist in other city departments, in Guilford County government, and in community partners.
The effort will include the Downtown Greensboro Ambassadors – a program that helps and assists those in downtown in many ways, including connecting those who need help with available social services.
According to city officials, the new Community Safety Department will keep a focus on “core service areas” such as Violence Intervention, the Behavioral Health Response Team, and the Law Enforcement Assistance Diversion Program.
