Displacement, the new face of homelessness

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.

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