Homeless finding help, tally suggests

By Michele Morgan Bolton
Globe Correspondent / February 10, 2008

A census of Plymouth County's homeless population has found 50 percent fewer people living on the streets than last year, a decrease that could indicate more people are finding the services they need, advocates say.

In 2007, the annual head count organized by the Plymouth County Housing Alliance revealed more than 500 homeless people in the county. Volunteer counters found more than 110 of them living on the streets.

This year, following a Jan. 30 canvass of Brockton and Plymouth, and checks with police, social services groups, and churches in the other towns, numbers for the unsheltered dropped to 57, said Tom Washington, director of operations for Father Bills & MainSpring, which runs shelters in Quincy, Brockton, Stoughton, and Middleborough.

That number includes 29 people found on the street in Brockton, 18 in Plymouth, three each in Wareham and East Bridgewater, two in Rockland and one each in Middleborough and Scituate. "That tells me individuals are coming in and seeking services," said Washington, who organizes the annual census.

Because some communities last year reported no homelessness or refused to participate, 500 is seen as a minimum number for the county. This year's new total for Plymouth County homeless, including those in shelters and on the street, is 406, Washington said. However, that figure doesn't include about 100 more people who are in transition from shelters to permanent homes, he stressed.

On the downside, the number of empty camps found during the outreach on Jan. 30, which in Brockton alone was 14, could indicate more unsheltered people on the move, officials acknowledged. And while the Housing First initiative that gets more people working and into permanent housing has resulted in a huge drop in homeless single women, the numbers of single men and families in shelters continue to rise, they said.

There will be questions about accuracy in numbers until every pocket of the county can be combed, including Myles Standish State Park in Plymouth, added Dennis Carman, president and CEO of the United Way of Plymouth County. He is also co-chairman of the Plymouth County Housing Alliance.

"If Brockton is the barometer of other towns, and there are less homeless people out there, then I am heartened," Carman said. "The best we can do is get an accurate count so we know what people are out there."

Officials need to gather the correct numbers to ensure maximum assistance from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. This year's allocation, announced in December, is $675,000.

Governor Deval Patrick has proposed a $10 million plan to eliminate homelessness in Massachusetts within five years.

Looking to next year, Washington said a collaboration with Bridgewater State College should yield a methodology for identifying the region's chronically homeless subpopulations, who require the most medical resources.

"We're talking about the mentally ill, those with substance abuse, AIDS, the vets, and domestic violence," Washington said.

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