Pittsfield Health Officials to Present Outreach Program
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Wheels are moving on local health officials' plan to implement an outreach program that connects unhoused individuals with resources.
The controversial camping ordinance was sent to the Board of Health in September 2025, and they have determined it is not the best approach for Pittsfield. It was officially scrapped by the City Council last month.
After months of consideration and a visit to the Northampton Division of Community Care, the BOH recommends piloting an alternative community response program with two new homeless service coordinators who would begin work in the spring.
On Wednesday, Cambi presented the board with a draft plan. It aims to strengthen the city's public health response to substance use and related community challenges by implementing a peer outreach program that provides harm reduction support services, navigation, and relationship building with vulnerable residents.
This includes improving coordination with community partners and enhancing health and environmental conditions in the downtown area.
The immediate priorities, Cambi said, are to rebuild trust and engagement, promote community understanding, and reduce stigma.
"The context behind this is that there was a policy put in place that was set as a solution. We heard from community members and service providers about how this wasn't the right approach, and now there's been a shift," he said.
"The city, including the Health Department, needs to own that change and how we need to rebuild those relationships, because we definitely lost the trust of the public."
He pointed out that the department has already been doing this work with its public health nurse and community health worker, but this program would expand that outreach. A system will need to be put in place for data and program tracking.
The program will be funded through Opioid Settlement Funds; it was originally planned to come from the Health Department budget. Cambi said it was important to designate one funding source and build a framework around that.
The two new staff members will be supervised by the city's certified community health worker and will partner with local service organizations and co-responders from the Pittsfield Police Department.
The intended outcomes for the program's first year are to increase engagement with individuals not connected to services, increase access to harm reduction resources and overdose prevention education, improve coordination between public health and community partners, improve trust between vulnerable residents and the city, and improve sanitation, environmental health, and quality of life conditions in the downtown area.
"If we think of the broad picture, community health, that's one of our biggest roles, and so putting that lens on and making it applicable to the work that we're going to do, and then sharing the success and also the challenges," Cambi said.
The BOH will give a presentation on Tuesday, March 17. By then, the budget will be built.
As with other city departments, the Health Department was tasked with a "very" small budget increase. The department's fiscal year 2026 budget was $730,883, a $54,982, or 8.13 percent, increase from the previous year.
A vacant social worker position was eliminated, reducing the spending plan by about $86,000, and the city conducted a salary study that will implement pay increases.
Earlier in the day on Wednesday, Cambi previewed the plan to the Homelessness Advisory Committee.
"I think the main thing that we have to do is fix the relationships that we have had with the unhoused population and also maybe some business owners that might feel frustrated that the camping ban ordinance did not get put in place," he said.
"I think the biggest thing is that there was a narrative that the unhoused population was causing all these disruptive behaviors in downtown, and I don't think that's appropriate. I don't think that's accurate. I think that we need to change that narrative."
The department will work on job descriptions in the coming weeks, followed by a hiring and onboarding process.
President and CEO of Hearthway Eileen Peltier asked that the city convene with local service agencies before writing the job description to understand where the gap is, "Because if you do it in a vacuum, I think it will naturally duplicate."
Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey is glad to see that the city is working upstream, but thinks that they have to look at the entire picture. While he is appreciative of the BOH's process, he doesn't want the unhoused population to be blamed for declining business downtown when the COVID-19 pandemic caused 20 percent of people to almost exclusively shop online, and fewer people to work in offices.
He doesn't think it is appropriate that so much of this discussion has been focused on unhoused community members.
"There are many perspectives saying what's happening in downtown, but we need to also take into account that we're in a different state in our economy," Kavey said.
"I mean, we're in a different place."
Cambi agreed, reiterating that there was an error in the narrative.
Tags: BOH, homeless, public health,
