Nowhere Else to Go

In last Saturday's Globe Jonathan Scott, a partner of United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, wrote a compelling letter in reaction to the town of Yarmouth's policies to shut down motels that house guests for more than 30 days. Jonathan writes of the reality that many homeless families have had to resort to renting rooms in motels due to a lack of affordable alternatives (in some cases they end up there on their own, in others they are sent there by the state because regular shelter beds are full).

Bear with me, but before I go on with my point I want to just imagine that for a second. Living with my little kids on the side of a busy road, no kitchen, maybe no refrigerator, my family and friends are all somewhere else. I'm not sure how to get my kid to school, we're all crammed in a small room, everyone I know has to call the motel's front desk to reach me, it's all I can afford and I'm probably going to have to buy fast food for every meal since I can't cook.

This seems like a pretty desperate situation I wouldn't want to find myself in. The Globe reported earlier last week that Yarmouth has pulled its motel licenses for three establishments that house families for more than 30 days. 250 people are at-risk, and the Town cites several reasons including danger for the famiiles and poor health conditions - despite there not being any health-code violations reported. In a public meeting, some residents even said that they didn't want the police to have to spend so much time at the motels, risk getting shot, or have drug overdoses taking place. Obviously there is a lot of stereotyping going on with those remarks. Even if there are incidents at the motels, people have a right to have a place to live and if the Town can't offer other alternative affordable units I would imagine they'll continue to have people turning to motels.

I don't have all the details on what's going on in Yarmouth. It's clearly a complicated issue facing a Town that's like every other in that they want the best for their residents. Unfortunately, our safety net for families facing housing crisis is imperfect. As Jonathan writes in his letter, there is a real lack of affordable housing for families. The Legislature appears to be getting close to providing $10 million in FY09 for piloting Housing First programming throughout the state, thanks to both the House and Senate. This money must be utilized to make housing-based solutions a reality in our Commonwealth. During the Romney administration motels were put out of use as state-funded shelter beds. With the political will coming from the Patrick Administration, I am hopeful this practice will conclude once and for all.

Many questions remain about how to implement these models. What do you think? What could some of the alternatives to motels be? What would you suggest Yarmouth do to meet both its needs and the needs of its lowest-income residents?