More Massachusetts Homeless Families Living in Motels

by Shannon Moriarty · 2009-09-17 20:42:00 UTC
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Like many other states, homelessness in Massachusetts has reached crisis crisis mode. Since June of this year, the number of homeless families being housed in motels has increased a whopping 37 percent. Today, over 1,000 homeless families in Massachusetts - that's over a third of the state's sheltered family homeless population - are living in motels. How much more strain can the state's safety net handle?

The state began using motel rooms to house homeless families when the state's 2,000 family shelter rooms across the state filled in 2007. Since then, the number of homeless families in motels has been steadily rising, thanks to economic factors that continue to plague the state. That said, a 37 percent increase in just three months is worse than anyone could have predicted.

The cost of putting a family up in a motel are not cheap, both financially and socially. Currently, the arrangement costs $2.8 million per month (a pithy amount when you consider the negative effects of living on a street or in a car). The social costs of not having a home can be much worse, especially for children, according to the MA Department of Housing and Community Development. Cramped quarters, instability, lack of access to nutritious and regular meals are just a few of the challenges the 1,400 homeless children in Massachusetts motels face daily. Not to mention the challenges of trying to keep up in school amid such uncertainty.

But help - and hope - is on the way. The state is anticipating the influx of stimulus funds, to the tune of $44.5 million - will help ease the burden. The state plans to use the funds to continue moving families into rent-supported permanent housing.

That trickle-down can't happen fast enough.

Image from It'sGreg's public Flickr photo stream.

Shannon Moriarty has worked in various homeless shelters and service organizations around the country. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.
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