WORCESTER — Peter Chomyn, a 65-year-old from Wisconsin, stays every winter at Hotel Grace, a 24/7 homeless shelter in the city.
He doesn’t know what he will do when the shelter closes – it’s too hard on the streets and his experience in the city’s state-funded shelters brings him to tears.
Hotel Grace is the only safe haven he has found – he feels cared for, heard, loved.
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Thursday was a rare, happy day at the Vernon Street shelter, which is located in a side building of Ascension Church. Five beds were open in the shelter – a few people had left recently. Some had to go into treatment, while someone else was able to find an apartment.
Reverend Richie Gonzalez, director of Hotel Grace, was briefing the five people who would be given the open beds. Every day people call the shelter, hoping to get lucky – hoping to get a warm bed during the cold winter months.
As Gonzalez tells them the rules of the shelter – no unassisted smoking breaks, subject yourself to searches every time you come in, “tell us if you’re staying another day or your bed goes to someone else” – the hotel’s newest residents seem tense and uncertain.
“I’ve been calling everywhere for three weeks,” said one woman, expressing relief that she finally had a place.
Even emergency services, hospitals, social workers call the shelter – there is always someone else who needs a bed.
Room for 60
But Hotel Grace only has room for 60 people, and Gonzalez said they’ve been running at full capacity since November. There just isn’t enough for everyone.
“I dare say that in reality, with the pandemic situation, there should be more options,” Gonzalez said, speaking of the homeless shelters and warming centers in the city.
As the COVID-19 omicron variant spread through Worcester and temperatures dropped to a single digit this month, the city’s Quality of Life team distributed blankets and warm clothing to shelters and treatment programs, and educated the homeless population about shelters and heating centers. .
Two shelters in the city – one on Queen Street and another on Chandler Street – are run by state-funded South Middlesex Opportunity Council Inc..
Hotel Grace is run by Gonzalez’s nonprofit, Net of Compassion, and receives some city funding, while Harbor is run by Living in Freedom Together.
While the residents of Hotel Grace found it welcoming, some who had sought shelter at SMOC shelters found it unsafe and hostile.
“It’s unclean, they don’t treat you fairly, yell at you constantly. Who wants to stay there and feel disrespected?” said Jill, who is homeless and staying at the Hotel Grace, of the Queen Street shelter. She asked not to use her last name.
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Responding to complaints about unsanitary buildings and an unsafe environment, SMOC CEO Susan Gentili said cleanliness is a top priority and they use security and police data to ensure safety.
dr. Matilde Castiel, commissioner of the city’s Department of Health and Human Services, said they have been working with SMOC to oversee the operations and provide resources. The goal is to work with people to find out what they need, but she said there will always be someone with complaints.
No ‘luxury’ insulation during pandemic
The ommicron variant, which led to the highest rise in COVID-19 cases in the city, has added an additional concern for the homeless population.
“The wave of COVID-19 is also taking its toll on the homeless population because they don’t have the luxury of self-isolating, so it’s easy for them to get COVID-19 and then spread it,” said Dr. Niya Lufumpa, homeless outreach strategist for the city’s Ministry of Health and Human Services.
Castiel said COVID-19 safety concerns aren’t necessarily a top priority for homeless people — they’re concerned with more direct factors that affect their survival.
Gonzalez said they make sure everyone in their shelter is vaccinated, boosted, masked and tested to prevent an outbreak. But that situation may not reflect the entire homeless population.
Not enough houses, not enough shelters
According to a report by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, nearly 18,000 people in Massachusetts were homeless in 2020. Those looking for a roof over their head can feel trapped in a circle of poverty.
Jill and Joe are both homeless and want to get out of shelters – they’ve been in and out for years. But a bad credit history means landlords view them as a risk. Even with a housing voucher they have not been able to find a place.
Gonzalez said many people at the shelter have housing vouchers but have nowhere to go.
“They run around, refer you here and there, but don’t really help you. (The city) goes into encampments and kicks people out, and then your experience with them is bad and you don’t even want to talk to them,” Joe says. , who is homeless and staying at Hotel Grace. “It looks like they’re getting the funding for stuff, but the homeless aren’t getting anything from them.”
Meanwhile, the shelters are full and the streets are deadly in the winter. The city needs a new home, agrees Terre DiGregorio, a street worker at Veterans Inc., but that’s not the only barrier. Rules, such as rules that require sobriety, can be a problem for people seeking help.
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On the other hand, so-called “wet shelters,” such as the one on Queen Street, where people with substance abuse problems end up, can create friction.
Chomyn described the two shelters as appalling, largely because of the drug use he witnessed, and how that affected his time there. He was grateful for the place on Vernon Street, where drug use is prohibited.
Another homeless person said they had to sleep on the floor in Queen Street and their money and belongings were stolen.
‘Very’ low-income home needed
Castiel said there are no plans to open another shelter as the city’s focus is on getting people housing and providing rehabilitation services. But that requires finding hosts who are willing to accept rental vouchers and meet each person’s unique needs.
Low-income homes are also being built, Castiel said, but acknowledged they also need “very low-income housing,” something the city is still working on.
With such limited options, a place in Hotel Grace feels like a gift from God to Chomyn.
“They really help people here, some people here don’t even get paid, they volunteer their time. I’ve never seen such a generous giver like the one in Worcester County,” Chomyn said with tears in his eyes as he spoke . from his experience in the shelter walking through the church.
But not everyone who needs a bed until then can get one there or anywhere.
And in the midst of a ‘renaissance’ in Worcester, this feels like betrayal to those left out in the cold.
“You look at all those apartments around and wonder, ‘Isn’t there a one-bedroom or two-bedroom place available?’ I just don’t believe that,” Jill said.