WORCESTER – The city is experiencing simultaneous crises with a rise in opioid deaths and an increasing number of homeless residents as shelters are closing their doors, sending more people into the street just as winter weather arrives.
City councilors were made aware at their Tuesday meeting that help for these crises is not likely to come quickly, and there won’t be enough of it when it does arrive.
The city currently has just over 200 beds in shelters but the number of homeless needing those beds may be 500 or more. The city could open a shelter with 60 beds as early as December and there is ongoing planning for a day center, as well, but the latter could be about two years away, City Manager Eric Batista said.
Meanwhile, rents are soaring and there isn’t enough affordable housing for residents.
HARBOR, a 15-bed shelter associated with the Living in Freedom Together nonprofit closed its doors several weeks ago as the program underwent a restructuring, as well.
After a lengthy discussion about homelessness, city councilors agreed that more needs to be done. Some suggested the city may have to allocate funding to hep move toward a resolution to the problem.
City Councilor Sarai Rivera talked about the stereotype of homelessness and said no group is untouched by it. A surprising number of elderly find themselves unhoused when illness strikes and they can no longer work to pay their rent, she said.
She told a story of a city woman who developed Parkinson’s disease and was in the advanced stages when it was diagnosed. She became homeless as a result.
“There are much more stories like that,” she said.
Rivera argued that nearby towns do little to help and leave the burden of caring for those on the street to the city. Plans for housing that would help veterans and seniors are looked upon unfavorably in smaller communities, she said.
Councilor Kate Toomey works in the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction and shared she has seen firsthand how the lack of housing has impacted the men she tries to help. Once released from the jail, these men need housing and community support, she said, adding that many times there’s simply nowhere for them to go.
“We need to do a lot more,” she said. “It’s heartbreaking to see the disappointment in their eyes.”
Councilors said they’d like to see incentives for landlords who offer affordable housing, more shelter beds, a day program for the homeless and more opportunities for first-time homebuyers.
Councilor Khrystian King said he wants to see a strategic plan for dealing with homelessness and he jumped onboard with a measure proposed by Rivera to develop an emergency task force to create a plan to address the issue.
King added he also wants the city to develop a method of measuring the impact of any changes that are made.
Meanwhile, the city is working with private investors to grow the stock of affordable housing and shelter programs, Batista said, though the timeline for such projects is long.
City councilors heard, at the start of the meeting, from several people who’ve recovered from substance abuse disorder and now work helping others. The voices from M.I.R.A.C.L.E. Mamas (Mothers in Recovery for Change, Leadership and Empowerment), Everyday Miracles Peer Recovery Center and other agencies were clear: they want a seat at the table in dealing with the opioid crisis.
Some who spoke credited Community Healthlink with saving their lives and were worried about the impact the closure of CHL’s programs would have in their community.
Community Healthlink on Queen Street shuttered several of its substance abuse programs earlier this year following a state inspection. While there is hope some of the programs will return, only the urgent care port of CHL remains open.
So, along with the loss of shelter beds, there’s been a loss of programs for addiction issues, too.
While the two major issues of homelessness and drug use can overlap, sometimes with one leading to the other, they are separate, Rivera said.
A report showed the number of deadly overdoses from opioids has risen significantly and Worcester “has the highest number of overdose deaths in the state.”
Dr. Matilde Castiel, commissioner of Health and Human Services, addressed the overdose issue and said these tend to happen in the most vulnerable areas of the city. While the number of non-fatal overdoses is down, it’s still worrisome, officials said.
The new report shows the Main South area has been hit particularly hard by non-fatal overdoses and Castile said that is where outreach efforts are focused.
Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30 of this year, 62 people overdosed on Main Street, the report states. Another 40 overdoses happened on Pleasant Street, and there were 29 overdoses on Queen Street.
Rivera said UMass Memorial Medical Center has been “sincere” about their desire to bring back services at CHL and they’ve been “very present at the table.”
The timeline for the programs to return is unclear but as the city works toward that goal, King said he wants the city to use the resources of those community members who offered help.
Kim Ring fell into journalism in the 1980s as a correspondent at the Telegram & Gazette and eventually left her initial career to pursue reporting full time. In her years of writing she has penned articles for several Massachusetts-based publications, taking a brief hiatus to work as chief of staff for a state representative. She can be reached at Kimringwrites@gmail.com
