Shelter residents give councilors insight on homelessness

At St. Mary’s Center for Women and Children, City Councilors Frank Baker, Annissa Essaibi-George and Matt O’Malley heard accounts from individuals who are homeless or work with such issues.

Several city councilors gathered at St. Mary’s Center for Women and Children recently to hear from those personally affected by homelessness. Shelter guests and representatives of nonprofits spoke at the hearing, convened by City Councilor Annissa Essaibi-George, chair of the Committee on Homelessness, Mental Health and Recovery.

The problem is growing, especially for families. According to the latest Annual Homeless Census, the number of homeless families in Boston increased by 25 percent over the previous year. According to school department data provided by Councilor Essaibi-George’s office, the number of homeless children in Boston Public Schools nearly doubled between spring 2014 and March 2016.

As women at the hearing recounted their trials, it soon became clear that not all shelters offer the same quality of services and care. Helping people back on their feet after homelessness may include such varied steps as offering job and life skills training, providing tailored support and timelines and creating safe, supportive communities.

Growing problem

As of March 2016, there were 3,933 Massachusetts families living in shelters, according to information provided by Essaibi-George’s office. A further 689 families could not secure shelter space and currently are housed in hotels and motels.

Boston accounts for a high share of the state’s homeless population: As of January 2016, 38 percent of those dwelling in Massachusetts shelters were from Boston, according to the councilor’s office

Richard Ring is the president of FamilyAid Boston, an organization that operates shelter units and helps provide emergency responses and rapid re-housing. Recently, the organization’s efforts have been forced to grow as homelessness surges, he said.

“In the last few years, each of these programs that I have cited has been required to expand its capacity to meet the growing demand of homeless families,” Ring testified at the hearing.

Pushed out too soon

With so many in need and waitlisted for services, there can be a pressure to move families quickly from shelters to apartments. But, some cautioned, pushing people on too soon can simply create the appearance of a fix, with them winding up back in shelters.

Sabrina, a woman who stays at Crossroads Family Center, said she first entered a shelter 15 years ago. The shelter put her into the first housing option available and helped her pay rent for a year. This fell short of what she says she actually needed. At that time, Sabrina was a young single mother with no experience of what holding onto an apartment entailed, she said. Without guidance, she lost the apartment by the year’s end.

“I didn’t know the basics of running a home,” she told hearing attendees. “They [shelter staff] were so interested in getting me into a house, that I went into the first thing that was open, which set me up for failure. … Sometimes we need more structure and a little bit more help.”

Recognizing such needs, Mercedes Tompkins, chief development officer at Brookview House, said that the nonprofit works to help individuals gain the life skills they require to become financially independent and maintain permanent housing. For some, who may have never lived alone or had employment, that means teaching the ins and outs of keeping a job or an apartment.

“If you’ve never seen someone get up to go to work in the morning you don’t know those norms,” Topmkins noted at the hearing.

While families usually stay one-and-a-half to two years in Brookview, Tompkins said, recently the administration has been urged to truncate the process.

“The pressure to house now is so intense,” she said. “There are close to 5,000 families who are homeless, surfing couches, who are at risk. There’s a pressure to figure out what’s the quick fix.”

A shelter that shelters

Poorly-run homeless shelters can heap further trauma on their guests. Yanira, a young woman who spoke at the hearing, said she and her daughter were traumatized when their shelter caught fire. Tara Zaniboni recounted being housed in a motel where she felt unsafe and drug use was rampant.

Many speakers pointed to St. Mary’s Margaret House residence as a model of success — a home that goes beyond merely housing women to become a community. Here, many women testified, they felt safe and supported by staff and other residents.

“I really feel comfortable living here,” Yanira said.

Zaniboni said that she began to withdraw, following the deaths of her mother and her son’s father. But Margaret House’s staff noticed and pushed her to move forward in life. Now she is in a job readiness program that she says is giving her skills and hope for the future.

“If I wasn’t here, I don’t know how I would have taken the last six months of my life,” Zaniboni said. “The staff took the initiative to step up and push me to do something for myself.”

Tools for success

Along with life skills, education and job readiness are critical factors to advancement, said Deidre Houtmeyers, president of St. Mary’s Center.

“Education — we know that is their ticket to self-sufficiency, bar none,” she said.

St. Mary’s is among the organizations that provide career training. In Boston, where rent vastly fast-outstrips wages, it is especially important that job preparation goes beyond minimum wage work, noted FamilyAid Boston’s Ring. Houtmeyers seemed to agree. She said the training programs set sights beyond fast food work, including teaching computer skills and giving graduates certificates testifying what they have learned.

Past that haunts

Other hurdles remain. CORI and credit score checks can dredge up past incidents and, in some cases, block people from actions that lead to regaining stability. Negative information lingers on a credit report for seven years, and employers, landlords and housing authorities may request to view such reports.

“It’s not easy to get an apartment when they look at your credit,” Brookview House’s Tompkins noted.

During her statement, Sabrina said she is going back to school and has an upcoming job interview, but fears her old mistakes will bar her way.

“I’ve matured and I’ve become a stronger woman, and I know more now, but because of what the paper says, I’m still sacrificing and struggling for [events from] years ago, when I was a young mother learning,” Sabrina said. “I wish housing wouldn’t deny families for background things if they’ve worked on it. … There are a lot of us that are really, really trying. Society has us in a place where we can’t move.”

Politicians move

Recent actions could bring some relief.

The morning after the St. Mary’s hearing, Mayor Martin Walsh presented a budget proposal that designates an additional $1.3 million to combating homelessness. The new funding will provide for implementing — and staffing — a system for greeting each new guest that enters a shelter, evaluating his or her needs and creating plans to meet them. It will also support rapid rehousing rental assistance and providing hotel and motel rooms for families ineligible for placement in state shelters.

Earlier this month, City Councilors Ayanna Pressley and Andrea Campbell filed an ordinance would prevent employers from considering credit scores in decisions around hiring, promoting and discharging employees.