State Legislators and advocates for the homeless discussed their plans to combat the growing homelessness problem in Massachusetts at a breakfast hosted by the First Parish Church in Dorchester Friday morning that fed more than 75 homeless families.
Homelessness was an issue that faced 6,365 men, women and children in the Boston area over the winter — a 9 percent increase from the year before, according to the Greater Boston Census.
Rep. Dorcena Forry (D-Milton) and Rep. Martin Walsh (D-Dorchester) outlined possible solutions to curtail the growing population of homeless Boston.
Walsh blamed a lack of affordable options as a factor to the rise in homelessness, saying that conditions will improve when the minimum wage is raised. If passed, a bill now in the Massachusetts Legislature would increase the state minimum wage from $6.75 to $8.25 within two years.
“We need to ask employers to step up to the plate,” Walsh said, adding that employers need to increase salaries on their own accord.
Forry said homelessness might be increasing because “jobs that could be covered by people with a GED are being taken by people with college degrees.” Forry added that businesses and industry are leaving the state, which leads to an increase of homelessness as residents lose their jobs.
Walsh called for speedier solutions to supply housing to thousands of homeless Bostonians, arguing that people applying to live in shelters, while maneuvering through bureaucracy, sometimes have a six-month waiting period to receive housing. Those who want to move out of shelters into their own homes or apartments with the help of housing subsidies must sometimes wait between two and 20 years before receiving a residence.
“The city of Boston needs to do a better job,” Walsh said. “We need to speed it up.”
Revere native Jeneen Napoli, 23 — who lived in a storage room in her grandfather’s house with her aunt before moving into a shelter with her 5-month-old daughter — testified about the difficulties she faced trying to find a shelter. Napoli said she was only able to receive a spot in homeless shelter after her aunt wrote a letter stating that she was not welcome to live at her home anymore.
Although shelters keep homeless people off the streets, pediatrician Dr. Robyn Riseberg said shelter conditions are not ideal for children because they do not have the space to learn how to crawl or walk.
“Our housing policies are being played out on the bodies of these children,” she said.
Riseberg added that homeless families struggling to pay their rent and living expenses often have to make choices that negatively impact their children’s health. These choices often lead to malnutrition, hospitalization at three times the rate of children living in homes and an increase in special education requirements. According to Riseberg, encouraging the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program and other programs acting as a preventative health measure would benefit Massachusetts.
According to Stephanie Brown, executive director of Homes for Families, a statewide family homeless advocacy group that hosted the breakfast, the MVRP allows low-income families to rent apartments with monthly housing subsidies. Under the current standards, families eligible for the MVRP earn less than $31,180 a year for a family of three. Families receiving vouchers spend 40 percent of their income for housing, but that number increases to 60 to 70 percent for families who do not receive vouchers, Brown added. Without the subsidies, families at this income level would otherwise live in shelters or unsafe conditions, she continued.
Brown called for an increase in funding for the MRVP, Residential Assistance for Families in Transition and easier access to shelters for the homeless.
“We will not be able to end family homelessness until there is affordable housing,” she said.
Brown called the RAFT program, which helps low-income families remain housed or find housing during financial crisis, “an invaluable resource to families.” Brown added that he hopes RAFT, which assisted over 4,300 families in its first two years, will receive $2 million increase in funding from the proposed $5 million for the 2007 budget.