WORCESTER—Despite growing homelessness problems in the city, the Health and Human Services Division is working to alleviate the issue through a comprehensive five-year plan. The strategy comes in response to a complex web of housing issues, including rising rents, low vacancy rates, and an increase in evictions.
“We find ourselves with 141 beds in the city,” said Matilde Castiel, commissioner of the Health and Human Services Department. “Certainly, there are overflow shelters at the RMV that originally had 60 beds, going up to 80 at one point, but averaging around 60-70 beds. One of our main intentions is what else to do in terms of sheltering people whether it’s a day resource center that provides extra overflow, especially in the winter.”
According to the city’s report, Worcester has made some progress in reducing chronic homelessness. Between January 2022 and March 2024, the number of chronically homeless individuals decreased from 184 to 163. However, the city still faces significant challenges, serving 593 non-chronically homeless individuals in March 2024 alone.
“I could be wrong, but I think we’re going to see a rise in family and individual homelessness,” said Etel Haxhiaj, vice chairperson and District 5 councilor. “Our low vacancy rate and high rents are the two factors that contribute to a community’s increase in homelessness.”
For Castiel, the priority should be to address the most vulnerable in the community.
“The most important issue is housing the chronically homeless, which is something we’ve been trying really hard to do,” she said. “We’ll have more housing units by 2025/2026 once we have the Quality Inn with 90 units of permanent supportive housing.”
The elderly population has been hit particularly hard by the housing crisis. Between 2018 and 2022, homelessness among people aged 65 and older in Worcester surged by 29.41 percent. Worcester’s tight housing market is exacerbating the situation. In 2023, the city had the lowest rental vacancy rate among the 75 largest metropolitan areas at just 2 percent. During the same period, the median cost per square foot of rental property increased by 10 percent, and the median rent for a two-bedroom unit is now approaching $2,000.
“Considering we don’t have a rent cap, it’s outrageous,” said Bethany Mann, a Worcester resident. “Single families who have multiple kids cannot afford $4,000 just for a 3-4 bedroom.”
These variety of factors have contributed to a sharp rise in evictions. More specifically, nonpayment evictions jumped from 263 to 471 between 2022 and 2023, leaving more residents at risk of homelessness.
“Building more housing, increasing shelter capacity for the city, strengthening outreach in our community, are some of the things we’re focusing on,” Castiel said.
City partners are also going out in the community for outreach purposes. In the last two years Worcester has added the Road to Care, providing medication treatment and medical treatment for people with addiction who are homeless.
In the first year of the plan, the city aims to increase shelter capacity by adding more congregate and non-congregate beds. As for ongoing projects in Worcester, SMOC has 20 units that are going up currently, using those to increase the overflow shelter during the winter. They’re also taking those units and doing single room occupancy, according to Castiel. 30 Winfield will also have an additional 18 units.
Year two will focus on enhancing prevention and supportive services. Castiel highlighted efforts to address the number of evictions. “Eviction is a very difficult issue for us to work with since a lot of it is handled by the state and the housing board.”
One of the main concerns is people who are housed may not have the adequate services, which results in a higher eviction rate, Castiel said.
The city plans to establish an Eviction Early Warning System Taskforce to evaluate current systems and develop more effective preventive measures. Additionally, supportive housing options will be expanded and tailored to meet the needs of homeless individuals.
“I see what we’re doing to address this issue,” said Luis Ojeda, council chairperson, “but we may be missing the mark on getting them to stay or taking the services that they need to help their addiction. The beds are there, the services are there, but they aren’t taking them.”
He added that he has driven up Main Street many times and seen people unsheltered or dealing with substance abuse. “At one point there were 80 beds but only 40 of them were being used,” he said. “How do we get them to where they want to use our services?”
Mann echoed his concerns. “We need more access to drug programs so those off the homeless don’t leave needles everywhere. And also more access to any type of program that can help get them to where they need to be.”
The third year of the plan introduces a mixed-income housing strategy to improve affordability. This approach aims to increase access to amenities, disperse affordable housing units across different areas of Worcester, and promote equity by ensuring housing opportunities are available to people of various income levels.
In years four and five, Worcester will construct non-congregate shelters and day resource centers for the homeless. The city also plans to advocate for policy changes and focus on evidence-based practices to address homelessness more effectively.
Castiel mentioned a recent development to support these efforts: “We just recently got a grant through the health foundation to hire two people, which we have. These people will help us learn more about how much housing we need to build for those who are homeless and how we calculate that.”
As Worcester embarks on this ambitious plan, city officials continue to stress the importance of collaboration with local partners to achieve their goals and create lasting solutions to the homelessness crisis.
“We cannot judge, we can only help. But it’s also up to the homeless individual to do the right thing when helped and stay on the right path,” said Mann.
Matt Olszewski is a freelance content and news writer based in Boston, MA. In his free time, Matt enjoys running, hiking or skiing. Matt is currently finishing up the MPH degree program at Tufts University. He can be reached at mattoskier@gmail.com
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