Kyle Powell says he likes to pretend it is September since Boston is a lot hotter then than it has been during the past few weeks – when health officials said frostbite could set in after 10 minutes of exposure.
With his fists jammed in the pockets of his worn down leather jacket, the outermost of three wrapping his 50-year-old frame, Powell shakes his three-hat-covered head. He says he cannot deny that this winter has been rough.
“I hope the days be better,” he says outside the Hynes Convention Center T stop. “Sometimes you want to kill yourself. Most of the time, you got no place to stay; you can’t feed yourself and [expletive deleted].”
Powell lives in Dorchester but says he comes downtown by bus everyday to ask for change at the T stop and on some city streets, usually earning $4 or $5 a day.
Every bit helps add to the $500 Supplemental Security Income check he gets each month from the government, he says.
He pays $200 a month rent in Dorchester, Powell says. The rest he spends on food, and whatever is left over he sends to his son.
“This winter has been cold, but it’s been all right,” he says. “Most of the time, I be hanging out, trying to stay out of the way. It’s getting better.” He smiles after he speaks, showing his one remaining tooth.
While Powell is not homeless, a Dec. 8 count found more than 6,000 homeless people in the city, with 230 living on the streets. Mayor Thomas Menino, who helped conduct the annual census, said the number was down from last year but many people may not have been counted. In response to the census, Menino created a 12-member council, of which he is a member, to help reduce homelessness in the city.
In the meantime, police are taking steps to protect those who have no place to stay in the cold.
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority police officers have been reminded over both radio and during roll call to be aware of the “life-threatening situation of these low temperatures” and to allow people seeking warmth inside T stops to remain until the stations close, said MBTA spokeswoman Lydia Rivera.
“When [officers] do encounter homeless people sleeping in stations after hours, they are to either provide transportation to a shelter with their own car or to call the Pine Street Inn because there is a bus available to bring the individual to a shelter,” Rivera said.
The MBTA Police have been more flexible this winter because “[Boston’s homeless] are in such dire straits,” Rivera said. She also added that officers do not tolerate anyone harassing T passengers.
The MBTA’s sensitivity is paying off, said Eliza Greenberg, director of the Boston Emergency Shelter Commission. The commission’s recent census shows that fewer people have been out on the streets since early December.
After the commission counted 230 people on the streets during its census Dec. 8 – a week after a major snowstorm – it issued hourly alerts to police officers and emergency medical services and called for extra vans to drive people to shelters, Greenberg said.
“We basically step up our efforts and bring them to ‘high alert,'” she said. “We’re not adding services. We outreach to MBTA and places like South Station and say, ‘Look, in this terrible weather can you be more flexible, call the outreach van and not kick [the homeless] out?'”
The counts in recent weeks have shown as few as 30 people sleeping on Boston’s streets, she said.
Spokespeople from Boston Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital said emergency response teams have not reported an unusual spike in frostbite or hypothermia cases for this season, nor could they identify specific patients who are or appear to be homeless.
Greenberg said the commission has also temporarily suspended a ban on sheltering certain individuals, such as people with histories of violence or drug use in shelters. Shelters have also been asked to stay open “around the clock” in response to the cold weather.
But Billy Jones, 41, who has been homeless for four years, says he has not seen many area shelters change their schedules this winter.
“Sometimes shelters don’t open until 4:00 [p.m.] or later, and sleepin’ on a bench – it ain’t comfortable,” Jones says.
He says he is thankful for the police’s leniency this season toward homeless taking refuge in warm subway stations, but sometimes a heating vent does not always cut it when shelters are closed or full.
“I ain’t going to lie,” Jones says. “I take a couple drinks to stay warm when I can’t get a hot meal or a place to stay.”
Jones and Powell say they take advantage of the free hourly bus from Boston to the Long Island Shelter for the Homeless in Quincy, a service the MBTA provides about 20 times a day and has offered for years, Rivera said.
“There are a lot more people homeless now than ever before,” Jones says. He added that he thinks the city could be doing more, like developing abandoned buildings into housing for the homeless.
Homelessness has been on a steady rise since the 1980s, Greenberg said, increasing by a few percent each year. There are 6,200 known homeless, which is the highest Boston has ever seen, she added.
The Emergency Shelter Commission is trying to alleviate the problem despite being only a five-person organization, Greenberg said. They plan to continue developing affordable housing in Boston. Ten percent of the housing they develop is set aside for the homeless, who receive “an automatic ride to the top of the list” for a public housing unit or Section 8 voucher.
But federal and state funding cuts are hurting progress, she said, though city funding has remained steady.
“Mayor [Thomas] Menino had made homelessness and affordable housing top priorities, and because of that we’re doing everything we can and we’re not facing any cuts,” Greenberg said. “But at state and federal levels we are seeing cuts, and a lot of our money is federal- and state-reliant.”
While the commission may rely on government funding, some private groups provide shelter for those in need. South Boston’s Pine Street Inn, a homeless shelter that is funded by corporate and private donations, offers refuge from the cold and access to programs to help get homeless people back on their feet.
Lisa Williams, a 31-year-old former cocaine addict from Boston, is just one of 2,500 people Pine Street Inn’s Nighttime Outreach program helps each year.
Her parents snorted cocaine while she was a child at home, and she began smoking cocaine at age 17 and was homeless by age 21.
“When I was older it was obvious they were addicted,” she says. “I would learn about drugs in school and then I’d go home and catch them. It was kind of obvious – they weren’t discreet.”
After giving birth to five children and living for nearly five years without a home, Williams turned to the Pine Street Inn for help – her arrival on their steps gave her hope for a life off the streets.
Now, Williams not only holds a part-time clerical job at the shelter, she recently married her boyfriend, whom she met at the Inn, and has been completely drug-free for four years.
Although the Pine Street Inn allowed Williams to eventually live on her own and may even let her someday fulfill her dream of becoming a nurse, she still said she does not regret sleeping on the Common or on Boston’s docks.
“I don’t think I would change anything,” she says. “I don’t regret my husband or my kids because it would change everything – I’m happy with my husband and I’m happy with my children. I don’t want to come off like an addict. I regret being here, but I don’t regret them – it’s a catch 22.”