Homeward bound

One year after the Cold Storage fire, local advocates and officials embark
on a plan to help Worcester's homeless. What's in the works?

By Chris Kanaracus

During the year since December 3, 1999, when the horrific Worcester Cold Storage fire took the lives of six city firefighters, public reaction to the tragedy traversed a path fraught with grief, anger, confusion, and forgiveness. This last sensibility, of course, applies to Julie Barnes and Thomas S. Levesque, a homeless couple who had been living in the Cold Storage building. A candle lit by the two was knocked over during a scuffle over sex, and sparked the blaze. In a somewhat surprising turn, Levesque and Barnes mostly steered clear of the public's criticism and bile. Both spent more than nine months in prison on involuntary manslaughter charges, but were released in September after Superior Court Judge Timothy Hillman dismissed their indictments. Barnes, a foster child for most of her life, now lives in Maine with the adopted parents of her blood sister.

That's not to say Barnes and Levesque got off scot free. An undercurrent of resentment toward them still exists, evidenced in part by angry callers to local radio shows and letters to the Telegram & Gazette. Also, Worcester County District Attorney John Conte recently requested the charges against the pair be reinstated. His move, however, has received only muted support.

Nonetheless, the homelessness that led Barnes and Levesque to the Cold Storage building, and in a sense caused the fire, became the tragedy's primary villain, along with the city's continued struggle with abandoned properties.

Both problems are substantial. A recent report released by the city's Commission on Homelessness states that Worcester County's 36 emergency shelters and transitional housing programs (which serve 1000 people) consistently operate at full or even beyond capacity, and officials estimate that about 3000 more end up in motels, abandoned buildings, or outside. There is also a 1500-person waiting list for transitional-housing placement. Shocking figures, to say the least.

Then there are the 214 abandoned buildings that remain within city limits. Some, like the former Boston Beef building at 81-85 Lafayette Street, are cited in a report from city manager Tom Hoover's Abandoned Building Task Force as far too similar in size and status to the Cold Storage warehouse.

Coupled with that report was the long-anticipated November 21 Abandoned Building Task Force missive that offers multiple solutions for eradicating the 214 such properties within Worcester city limits. Some suggestions include immediately securing all vacant properties, creating an ordinance that would force owners to notify city officials of their plans for newly abandoned properties, and the creation of a database containing floor plans for all vacated buildings. Many say if this last measure had been in place at the time of the fire, the tragedy could have been avoided, as the firefighters who entered the building had little information about the sprawling warehouse's layout. That report also recommends -- albeit in a cursory manner -- expanding programs for the homeless.

Thankfully, city leaders aren't ignoring the problem: Hoover convened the Commission on Homelessness in October 1999, even before the fire occurred. The commission's charge, which is ongoing, centers on finding and designing a new home for the Public Inebriate Shelter (a.k.a. the PIP shelter) on Main Street and addressing the needs of single homeless people, who currently are the most in need.

The PIP shelter was established as an operation meant to service drug-and-alcohol dependent individuals. But in recent years, the shelter has become overburdened with not only drug abusers but the mentally ill, homeless youth, women, and recently released convicts. As a result, outcry from nearby residents and business-people has escalated, prompting the plans for a move.

Along with funds to help that process along, as a first step, the Commission on Homelessness seeks a total of about $2.4 million in additional aid for local programs, including about $1 million to open transitional shelters for the non-disabled, young adults, and ex-offenders -- the idea being to lighten the PIP's load. The remaining funds would bolster existing case management and assessment programs and provide permanent supportive housing for substance abusers, among other things.

Both the Homelessness Commission and Abandoned Building Task Force's plans are exhaustive, thoughtful, and realistic. But chances are, if you're a regular observer of Worcester politics, the mere mention of words and phrases such as "commission" and "task force" will induce a skeptical yawn. Such ad-hoc, citizen-and-official staffed bodies are a way of life around here: take the Union Station Alliance and the Stadium Task Force. Both were formed years ago but have yet to produce major results, in part due to their advisory status; neither have any real power to carry out their recommendations.

The real question, then, when it comes to the Homelessness commission's report: will its recommendations be carried out by local leaders? Real change will take a major and persistent effort, and will have to involve far more than local funding or simple good will. It will require legislation and hard work, at both the state and local level, to push it through.

The truth is, nothing tangible has happened since the tragic fire. And even assuming a best-case scenario, don't expect major changes for at least five years, which is the time-frame set down by the commission's plan.

The Commission on Homelessness's report constitutes a heck of a wish list, especially when you consider the passage of Ballot Question 4 in the November election. The Cellucci-Swift led initiative will roll back the state income tax from 5.85 to five percent over the next three years, removing about $1.2 billion from the tax coffers. The ballot question was strongly opposed before the election by social-services advocates and teachers' unions, who claimed it could gut their programs.

Commission members are aware of Question 4, but are talking positively. "We're going for the whole package," says Grace Carmark, executive director of the non-profit Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance and a commission member.

Just how the commission will "go for" it is currently up in the air. The report was presented to local legislators in late October, but has yet to receive widespread support. (Privately, more than one legislator says it ultimately will.) In order for new bills to get priority in the legislative session beginning in January, they had to have been filed by December 5. None were.

Other avenues exist. For example, proposals to fund homelessness programs and initiatives could become the focus of a home-rule petition, by which a given issue is voted on at a local level -- in this case the Worcester City Council -- and then presented to the area's delegation of state legislators. Home-rule petitions often carry considerable clout to the state level, so this approach is not out of the question. With some reservations, commission chair Dr. Jerry Schlater says related legislation of some sort will likely be filed in time for consideration in the 2002 budget.

There is always the chance, of course, that legislators from other parts of the state could vote down such a measure, or attempt to secure similar funds for their communities, creating delays.

Perhaps the key to avoiding that will come in how the plan is pitched. State senator Harriette Chandler says the commission's plan could be a "model pilot" for other cities in Massachusetts. "This could deserve to be fleshed out into legislation. [Homelessness] is one of the most serious issues we face as we move forward."

For sure, the root causes associated with homelessness are broad. Many point to welfare-reform legislation passed in 1995 by Governor William Weld, which limits benefits to two years within any five-year period. But leaders in some cities, such as Lynn, say reform has worked, spurring more people to work their way off the welfare rolls.

Yet even welfare recipients who stabilize in time face tough challenges. Rents for apartments in Worcester are at all-time highs and housing units are in short supply, creating a kind of gridlock. According to a study released last March by the National Conference of Mayors, the average minimum-wage worker in Worcester needs to put in an 87-hour week in order to afford a two-bedroom apartment. Couple that with the fact that most landlords require one, two, or even three months extra rent as a security deposit upon move-in, and you have a chilling reality for many homeless people. Another aspect of the Worcester plan would increase funding designed to provide individuals with money to cover those costs.

Despite the specter of Question 4, local leaders may be in good shape, as talk of homelessness at the state level seems to have warmed slightly under Governor Paul Cellucci. Last year his Office of Administration and Finance set up a statewide homelessness task force that released a wide-ranging report in October.

Most significantly, Cellucci has pushed a unique way to increase affordable housing. According to a 1969 state law, 10 percent of all housing in the state must be affordable. Currently, only 8.5 percent is.

Generally, communities have used Title V regulations -- state environmental regulations meant to protect local water supplies from septic-system contamination -- to avoid new housing growth. According to Cellucci's office, 125 cities and towns set more stringent local Title V standards. In October, Cellucci announced he'd push for better scrutiny of Title V law. Another proposal would provide more funding to homeless families in transition out of shelters.

These are all good signs. But if you ask critics such as James Stewart, a longtime homeless advocate who currently runs the First Church shelter in Boston, it's not quite enough. Stewart says truly sweeping change will require the will of the general public.

"There doesn't seem to be a secondary constituency [in support of the homeless]," he says. "People need to view homelessness as an indictment of our society as it stands. There's an indifference out there that at best is benign. Until we get people saying `Hey, you can't treat our brothers and sisters like that,' there won't be change."

But if the ongoing efforts in Worcester are any indication, activists like Carmark have gained new resolve, as well as the backing of local leaders. And although the Commission on Homelessness was formed two months prior to the fire, the six men who died in the blaze have, by their sacrifices, left an additional legacy. They certainly will never be forgotten, and hopefully, neither will the city's homeless.

Chris Kanaracus can be reached at
ckanaracus[a]phx.com.