|
Center for Social Policy
McCormack Graduate School
University of Massachusetts Boston
100 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, MA 02125-3393
Phone: (617) 287 5550
Fax: (617) 287 5544
|
| back to Press index page |
| |
|
More people using homeless shelters in Massachusetts
|
Author(s):
The Associated Press
Source(s):
Worcester Telegram (also appeared in BostonChannel.com, Framingham MetroWest Daily News,
Daily News Transcript, WRGB, Milford Daily News, Daily News Tribune (Waltham), Sarasota
Herald-Tribune in Florida, WFCR (NPR affiliate in Amherst), WAMC (an NPR affiliate in Albany),
MASS Live, WHDH-TV.com, WRGB.com (Albany), Boston.com (Globe online), & Gainesville Sun (Florida)
Date: July 8, 2004
|
Nearly 29,000 people spent time in a homeless shelter in Massachusetts last year, a 16 percent
increase over 1999, with people over 55 the fastest growing group requiring emergency shelter,
according to a new report.
Half of the people using shelter last year stayed for a week or less, but nearly three-quarters
of the beds in the 17 emergency shelters that provided data for the report were occupied by
people who stayed for more than two months.
"More individuals are using the homeless shelter system, and this isn't even the whole homeless
picture," said Tatjana Meschede, the primary author of the report, compiled by The Center for
Social Policy at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. "It doesn't include families, people
in specialized shelters, or those on the streets who never make it to a shelter."
The percentage increase between 1999 and 2003 may be even greater than the report shows, because
the 1999 estimate included more types of shelters, Meschede said.
Four out of five people who used shelters in 2003 lived in Massachusetts before becoming homeless,
and most people who used emergency shelters attributed their homelessness to financial problems
and unemployment.
One of the surprises of the report was the fact that people 55 and older appeared to be the
fastest growing segment of the emergency shelter population, said center spokesman Brian Sokol.
Older people in homeless shelters create new problems, including more medical issues, he said.
Overall, substance abuse and mental health issues were the most frequently reported health
problems.
There was also a surprising growth in the number of people with high school diplomas and some
college who are seeking emergency shelter, he said.
The number of people entering shelters without health insurance is also on the rise according
to the report, at 38 percent in 2003, up from 28 percent in 1999. This is attributable to the
fact that the state implemented new eligibility standards for low-income residents in April
2003, according to the report.
The report recommends that the state extend and improve homeless prevention programs; increase
shelter resources so they can better help people break out of the cycle of homelessness; and
restore health insurance to many who lost it when funding for MassHealth Basic was reduced in
2003.
The report, funded by the state, as well as the cities of Boston, Cambridge, Lynn and Lowell,
will now be passed on to public policy officials, state legislators, the governor's office and
advocates for the homeless, Sokol said.
|
|
