Protesters Urge McKee to Address Looming Unsheltered Homeless Crisis
GoLocalProv News Team
Protesters Urge McKee to Address Looming Unsheltered Homeless Crisis
The State provided over 500 hotel and emergency winter shelter beds due to the Covid-19 crisis, but those who have occupied those beds are now being forced out as funding expires, say advocates.
“Most of those at this protest can go home tonight. Many others can’t," said Barbara Freitas, Head of the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project and someone who has experienced unsheltered homelessness herself. "Unfortunately, for our friends, living outside has become a way of life. And it shouldn’t be. We are here to make sure that the Governor knows that and acts now to get roofs over people’s heads. We will not accept one more night of people forced to sleep outside!”
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Homeless by the Numbers
According to the state’s Homeless Management Information System, over the two weeks ending April 16th, 255 individuals have been reported as living outside in Rhode Island. This number will increase as people are forced to leave winter shelters. Those evicted from those beds have nowhere to go, as there are 932 individuals on waiting lists for individual and family shelter including 544 adults, and 388 individuals in 117 families with children.
“We appreciate the Governor’s action in creating emergency shelter during last winter," said Eric Hirsch, a professor at Providence College and Co-Chair of the state’s Homeless Management Information System Steering Committee. "He must now ensure that the hundreds of people, individuals and families, in those beds are not forced outside again. If they are, the costs to them and to the state as a whole will be unprecedented. We have more than enough American Rescue Plan funds to provide these shelter beds and permanent housing.”
Activists assert that state government has not adequately addressed this urgent crisis, and are calling on McKee for the following:
1) Immediately order temporary emergency shelters with 500 beds and find sites for them including the House of Hope’s ECHO Village.
2) There must be a well-planned funded path for these constituents to be placed in permanent supportive housing or deeply subsidized housing. Therefore, Governor and the General Assembly must find creative ways to quickly create 500 new permanent supportive and deeply subsidized housing units.
3) Hundreds of millions of dollars are available through the American Rescue Plan to fund this. It’s time to spend these funds to address the most urgent crisis that has been created by the Covid-19 pandemic.