Mayor strives to end homelessness in 10 years

By George P. Hassett

Somerville will receive $1.5 million in Housing and Urban Development grants as part of Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone’s plan to end homelessness in Somerville within 10 years.

“The task is monumental but our community must be persistent on it,” Curtatone said. Federal grants require municipalities to work out a plan to end homelessness within a decade in order to be eligible for federal funding, Curtatone said.

Curtatone said it may be impossible to house every last homeless person in the city, but he plans on creating a system “guiding people to a continuum of care,” and understanding why the hardcore homeless population can not find permanent shelter.

There are currently 248 homeless people in Somerville, said Meghann Goughann of Cambridge and Somerville Program for Alcohol Rehabilitation (CASPAR). CASPAR conducted a “homeless census” Jan 30 and 31. They surveyed emergency shelters, transition programs and areas where people were sleeping outside between 2:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. over the two nights. Fifteen people were recorded as sleeping outside without shelter.

“It’s not scientific but it’s pretty accurate,” Goughann said.  However, Goughann said the census takers could have missed homeless people who move around at night and sleep during the day. CASPAR also avoided certain areas because of safety concerns, she said.

To help these people, Somerville organizations this week received $1.5 million in federal grant money. The money was distributed mainly among CASPAR, the Somerville Homeless Coalition (SHC) and the Somerville Community Corporation. SHC received $708,938 to increase case management of clients, create permanent housing and to distribute rental vouchers to those in need. CASPAR received $385,082 for outreach, job training and substance abuse programs.

The Somerville Community Corporation received $194,000 to create two units of permanent housing, Wayside Youth and Family Support Network received $233,871 for 9 rooms for 18 to 24 year old homeless males with 24 hour staffing and The Catholic Charities Bureau of the Archdiocese of Boston received  $50,972 for five units of housing for women in Union Square.

Mark Alston-Follansbee, director of the Somerville Homeless Coalition, said the city’s plan will likely address the chronically homeless population —- individuals who are either disabled or substance abusers and can not find permanent shelter.

These people are 20 percent of the homeless population but take up 50 percent of the resources, he said. He said the grant money allows organization such as the Somerville Homeless Coalition to offer people shelter while they prepare to move forward in life.

“When people are homeless, there is so much stress just in finding a place to sleep that there is no energy to do the things necessary to pull yourself out of homelessness,” he said. “Organizations like ours can help by assessing a person’s needs, building a plan, maximizing any benefits they may be eligible for and searching for a house.”

Alston-Follansbee said city government has always been willing to help the cause but a real solution must come from the federal government. The problem, he said, is burn out on the part of many taxpayers.

“We know how to solve this problem, the answer to homelessness is creating  homes for people, we just don’t have the resources. The hardest part is that this has gone on too long and people are tired of it.”

Comments

[Bill Rosen]

The not so subtle message: the Mayor plans be Mayor for abother 10 years. Nothing wrong with that.

[Somerspeak]

Mr. Rosen - If it takes Mayor Curtatone 10 years and $1.5million to find housing for 248 needy souls, I see a lot wrong with that.

[it *is* funny]

Is there anywhere I can find more information on the transitional housing that is already offered by the City? I truly am curious, having driven by (and lived on) a street that has a lot of drop-in day centers for people with mental disabilities, I'm curious about places like Shortstop on North Street, etc., which I assume offer short-term housing for people in need.

I admire the Mayor taking on this issue -- it's really hard to address it without a systemic approach, and hopefully the folks at CASPAR and other agencies can help educate us all about the problem and potential solutions. Even 15 people sleeping rough on our streets is too many for our dear Somerville, where we may have our differences but we look after our neighbors.

[TryAgain]

Somerspeak - Isn't is a little more complex than that? Do you think it will be the same 248 people who will be attended to over that decade? It's the larger problem, encompassing a shifting population, that will be tackled via this initiative. We may still find fault with the approach, but let's at least be critical about the right stuff here.

[Yorktown Street]

It depends how broadly you define "transitional housing"--but for Shortstop, look at http://www.shortstopinfo.com/. Incidentally, it isn't the City offering housing. Nonprofit organizations do that. The City sometimes gives them money.

[Workin'classjoe]

I wonder where these new homes hes talking about will be built. I for one am not exactly excited about a home being built near me that will be inhabited by potential drug addicts and other vagrants. I am working class, and of course our leaders and the beutiful people will build them in my backyard. I for one think that we should build build homes for the homeless right next to the people who want to help them so bad. Put one right on the Cambridge/Somerville border close to where all of the wealthy people live. I am sure they won't mind, I mean why would they care if the price of their property goes down. They can teach their kids about the world but letting them play frisbee with an ex-con. How about this idea, lets build a homeless shelter on the Tufts campus. Everyone knows that people who pay $50,000 a year for school know exactly what its like to be poor and homeless. Imagine all of the real world experience our future leaders will have. Instead of showing up to a soup kitchen for a bullet point on the resume, they will be living with all the people that they plan on using when they run for office one day.