What’s on Somerville Neighborhood News

On May 15, 2016, in Latest News, by The Somerville Times

Displacement, the new face of homelessness

snn_5_11_16_web

Rising rents, soaring home prices and high-end developments are causing displacement across Somerville.  The organizations that fight homelessness are finding their resources are being taxed to keep residents in their homes, before they are displaced, and at greater risk of homelessness.

“We need to look at how to do development without displacing our current residents, and there’s been a lot of displacement.” said David Gibbs, Executive Director of Community Action Agency of Somerville (CAAS.) “There’s been a lot of people at really every income level from the lowest to the higher middle-income levels who’ve been forced out of the city.”

Organizations like the Community Action Agency of Somerville (CAAS) and Somerville Homeless Coalition (SHC) have been seeing a rising number of families and individuals seeking assistance because they are struggling just to meet their monthly rent. In Somerville, housing costs are 35% higher than the state average, which can put many residents at risk of becoming homeless.

Sam Davidson- Weiss works with homelessness prevention at CAAS and says, “A lot of families in Somerville are paying upward of 50% of their income towards rent. Some more than 80% or 90% and just barely getting by.”

“For a family of 4 the cost of living is roughly $70,000 year so if you’re making less than that you’re either going into debt or relying on government assistance or the generosity of neighbors, and if you’re making just a little bit over that you’re doing ok, but you’re still economically vulnerable these days,” says Gibbs

And families are not the only ones who face this obstacle. Rising rent costs also affect the organizations in place to help residents, like SHC, who helps provide assistance to those struggling to make their rent payments every month.

“We lease about 40 apartments across the city and we’re a tenant just like anybody else, if we’re not able to meet those rising costs then we have to give up those apartments. The ones who really suffer are the ones living in those apartments, our clients,” said Michael Libby, Deputy Director of SHC.

To watch the full news video and to read the full article visit: www.somervilleneighborhoodnews.org. Somerville Neighborhood News is a production of Somerville Community Access Television, made by professional journalists, volunteers and staff. The half-hour news show has as its mission to provide a lively, informative newscast focusing on the events, issues and information impacting Somerville residents.

 

1 Response » to “What’s on Somerville Neighborhood News”

  1. A Moore says:

    A lot of things we do here in Somerville are so frivolous compared to this problem which should be more of a top priority. It has been pushed aside for too long in Somerville and about to get get pushed back some more. Something has to be done. Many cities are now starting to do things like tent cities or box type tiny homes. Senior homelessness is way up. We have kids going to school here who are homeless. We can do without some of these programs or events and at the very least supply basic needs to those who desperately need it. Hard to say I am proud to come from Somerville with this going on here.