Health

10 HE ALTH • Fall 2022 By Monica Benevides W hile demand for affordable housing outstrips available units and rents continue to rise, homelessness rates in Central Massachusetts are skyrocketing. According to data from Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance, Inc., there was a 60% year over increase in homelessness in Worcester County from March 2021 to March 2022. The result is a public health crisis taking a toll on the mental and physical well-being of those affected – many of whom have not previously experienced being unhoused, according to CMHA – as well as a strained public services sector and extra pressure on already swamped healthcare providers. Lindsey Richmond, deputy director of housing counseling at the Worcester-based nonprofit RCAP Solutions, Inc., said her team is working with clients in search of housing for anywhere between 10 and 12 months, while these searches used to last only one or two. At the same time, its division has a 300-client waitlist that has doubled since the start of 2022, leaving hundreds of people without homes in limbo. With no other options, many turn to shelters, couch surfing, or the streets. "We have so many clients that are on disability, on social security for various reasons across the board, but there's no place for us to put them," Richmond said. As a result, she and her team are seeing their clients continue to suffer, sometimes spiraling under the stress of being both unhoused and not knowing when a suitable living option will become available. She described one client who grew paranoid over time, experiencing mania and self-harm while waiting to find a place to live. "It really does take a toll on the clients," Richmond said. "They get hopeless, even clients that didn't already have these mental health issues." The impact of homelessness The individual health implications for those without a permanent home spin out like a web. The stress of being unhoused, coupled with the complications and dangers of not having a permanent home, make folks vulnerable to illness both mental and physical. That includes substance-use disorders, which can worsen under the pressure. Dr. Matilde Castiel, health and human services commissioner for the City of Worcester, said part of her current work includes getting the community to understand that homelessness – including the increasing numbers of unhoused individuals – is a health issue. "It really is costly for hospitals, [and] it certainly is degrading for people who are in these situations because everyone should be able to have good health care," Castiel said. How can a person take care of medical issues without a home, she asked, rhetorically, let alone While the City of Worcester scrambles to increase affordable housing units, growing numbers of unhoused people in and around Worcester face a multitude of physical and mental health challenges. Dr. Matilde Castiel, health and human ser- vices commissioner for Worcester Homelessness is taking its toll 2/'21 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 3/'21 2/'22 3/'22 Number of homeless Worcester County homeless single adults Source: Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance, Inc. Rising Worcester housing costs $1,825 Median rent price of all kinds of units in Worcester as of August, a $125 increase from last year Median sale prices of a single- family home in July, a 15% increase from July 2021 Sources: Zillow & The Warren Group $390,000

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