GREENFIELD — To solve homelessness, first you need affordable homes.
This was according to Executive Director Claire Higgins of low-income assistance group Community Action Pioneer Valley, the Human Rights Commission guest last night during their continued discussion around the issue of homelessness.
The issue arose during the state’s bitter cold streak last year and has been discussed by the Human Rights Commission previously.
While issues that can contribute to homelessness include lost jobs or substance abuse, Wiggins said that the lack of affordable housing and wages play significant roles in the problem.
According to Higgins, it has been the issue of salaries that do not match with the cost of rent and living over the years.
“The underlying reason really is the way salaries and rents diverged,” Higgins said.
According to Higgins, rents have increased while wages, compared to inflation, remained stagnant. This has prevented minimum- and low-wage earners from being able to afford housing.
“If you were making minimum wage you can’t afford an apartment, you can’t afford rent,” she said.
In addition to the diverging wage and rent conundrum, Higgins also mentioned that since the 1970s, single-room occupancy housing has also decreased in the area, reducing the more affordable living option.
And according to Higgins, homelessness can cause negative impacts on those affected.
For individuals, there are negative long-term health impacts she said, including the potential to die younger the longer someone is homeless. Children can also see profound consequences, Higgins said, since they do not have a home to feel safe in or schools they stay in. She said that if a student is able to stay in the same school over a longer period of time, studies show their performances are better than students who change schools.
Higgins also mentioned during the meeting that in Massachusetts, individuals face the issue of not having the right to shelter, though families with children do receive that, meaning that if it is determined that a family does not have shelter they will be provided it.
“Nobody’s obligated to give you a place to live. There are really important humanitarian and safety reasons to give shelter, but no right,” she said of individuals.
To help solve the issue of homelessness on a broader scale, Higgins said affordable housing was one option that could provide a sizable impact.
“I feel like if the housing’s in place and the people can really afford it, the rest can work,” she said. “Jobs can work, students stay in the same school.”
On the state level, Higgins noted that funding used currently to combat homelessness in the short-term through shelters and, when those become overpopulated, motels, can also be used in the long-term through funding affordable housing construction.
“We’re going to spend the public dollars to manage homelessness either way,” Higgins said. “I’d rather put it in the hard asset,” referring to affordable housing.
In addition, she also spoke about “upstream” or prevention programs to help combat homelessness, which she noted Community Action received funding for about 18 months previously over the past two years, though funding is not there for those programs currently.
Human Rights Commission member Gregory Corcoran spoke in favor of upstream programs to combat homelessness but was concerned about where funding would come from for these types of programs at the municipal level.
Higgins urged advocating for funding on the state level for these programs, and also said that municipalities control housing policies and this could be a place for impact.
“We now have a generation priced out of the housing market and what are we doing about that?” Higgins said of the housing issue. “How do we think that all of this is going to keep going when we’re all 98?”