Bruce and Gary Greene both grew up in Somerville and spent most of their lives having never met — or realizing they were first cousins. Then in 2021, Gary became homeless. He found his way to Statue Park, where he got to know Bruce, who has been homeless on and off for two decades. The pair now spend their nights together, wrapped in blankets under the cover of beach umbrellas.
During the day, the cousins fastidiously clean trash from the park behind the Davis Square MBTA station. They also share food, water and guidance with a growing number of people experiencing homelessness in the area.
“I’ve seen more people come from other cities because the other cities are closing down resources,” Gary told GBH News. “I’m trying to help people, because nobody ever helped me.”
City officials and homeless advocates say there has been a surge over the last few months of unhoused people spending nights in the woods near Alewife Station and in tents in East Somerville in Statue Park and Chuckie Harris Park.
“It is anticipated that on any given night, over 40 people are sleeping outside in Somerville,” Somerville Homeless Coalition Director of Development Felicity Beal told GBH News on Wednesday.
The city’s last point-in-time census, conducted in January, counted 26 people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, with a total of 150 people across the city’s shelters and living outside — the highest number since 2016, according to city officials.
Paul Goldstein, the city’s Housing Programs Coordinator, said the surge can be attributed to many factors, including a statewide housing crisis, the end of federal funding programs for rental and low-income assistance, an influx of migrant families across the state and the ongoing opioid crisis.
“There is a large increase in unhoused,” Goldstein said. “Local groups and community stakeholders have reached out to me and other city departments about the increases they’re seeing and what can be done.”
Last week, the Somerville Zoning Board of Appeals approved a proposal from the Somerville Homeless Coalition to move their existing shelter over one block and expand from 16 to 26 beds. City officials approved the expansion, despite a recent campaign from a small coalition of residents who opposed the proposal.
Ward 1 City Councilor Matt McLaughlin said homelessness in Somerville is “nothing new” but began to increase drastically in the last few months.
“We also just can’t push it along like other people have and just say, ‘We’re going to send this to the next neighborhood,’ because it doesn’t solve the problem.”Matt McLaughlin, Somerville City Councilor
Last summer, McLaughlin and other City Council members requested that the mayor declare a public state of emergency, urging the city to allocate more resources to address the 21 tents set up in Chuckie Harris Park.
Using American Rescue Plan Act funds, last year Somerville officials opened an Engagement Center in Davis Square, the city’s first day shelter that provides meals, bathrooms and other resources to people who are homeless. The Somerville Homeless Coalition is in the process of creating a mobile van to provide free showers across the city, according to Beal.
At the two shelters in the area, overnight space is limited. Somerville’s only Emergency Assistance shelter, the Cross Family Shelter, accommodates five families at a time. And shelter workers say they have seen an increase in demand.
“Over the summer we began to see a huge surge,’’ McLaughlin told GBH News. “We also just can’t push it along like other people have and just say, ‘We’re going to send this to the next neighborhood,’ because it doesn’t solve the problem.”
State Sen. Pat Jehlen, a Democrat who represents the Second Middlesex District, told GBH News on Wednesday that Somerville is “not prepared” for an increase in the rate of homelessness, particularly among families.
“If you talk to people in the housing office, they certainly are pursuing ideas like giving municipal vouchers to have people go to motels, but you run out of money so fast,” she said. “It’s just a housing affordability crisis and an income crisis, that people at the bottom of the economic ladder are seeing increased housing prices and their income is not keeping up.”
A 2023 report from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council found a record 51% of renters in Greater Boston spend more than a third of their income on housing costs — and roughly one-fifth of residential properties sold in the area from 2004 through 2018 were purchased by investors, who “flip” properties into luxury developments.
“I think if we had rent stabilization, you wouldn’t see the rapid displacement of people,” Jehlen said.
Advocates have proposed other solutions to slow the pipeline from housing insecurity to homelessness. Jordan Harris, president of the nonprofit Community Action Agency of Somerville, wrote an open letter in July urging state leaders to ban no-fault evictions across the state to “ease the burden on the shelter system.”
In the first half of 2023, threat of eviction represented 11% of all reasons for homelessness and families admitted into the state’s Emergency Assistance shelter system, according to state data.
Harris’ letter came in response to sweeping changes to the state’s Emergency Assistance program. Last week, Gov. Maura Healey announced that families facing homelessness due to no-fault eviction are now one of the groups prioritized for emergency shelter placement.
At Statue Park, Bruce and Gary Greene say they’ll continue to welcome people seeking resources, assistance and community. If he can get a staff together, Bruce says he wants to supply cleaning services for local parks and businesses in exchange for donations.
“I mean, give people a chance to work. People want to work,” Gary said. “We don’t have anywhere to go, and we don’t want to live and die out here on the street.”
