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By Marianne Walles

Somerville has been considered a leader in addressing the housing crisis that faces its residents. Policy makers and elected officials talk often about affordable housing, increasing the housing stock, tenant protections, and rent control. All of these are critical, important policies that will help ameliorate our housing crisis.

But less frequently remarked-upon tool to address our housing crisis is emergency shelters, and what the lack of conversation and attention has done is put stability out of reach for many families.

When they do happen, conversations about homelessness in Somerville tend to focus on people in Davis Square and are often framed in a dehumanizing way that emphasizes aesthetic blight over the dignity and the well-being of our neighbors.

One must first apply and prove that you are sufficiently low-income before you can even be accepted into our shelter system. It can take up to a month for the determination to occur. Once accepted you can be placed anywhere in the Commonwealth. Folks are often placed at shelters that are not near their jobs, their children’s schools, their healthcare providers, or their social supports. If you decline a placement, you may be ineligible to reapply for a period of time.

The reality is that there are many families in Somerville, that don’t have homes, but they too often go unnoticed for various reasons. Many sleep in the homes of friends or relatives. Some wait on affordable housing lists, sometimes for years hoping for a place to call their own. Some live in a city and never speak up about their struggle because of the stigma of being homeless. Some don’t vote because of the challenge of registering without a permanent address and associated documentation. Some fear even reaching out to emergency services (medical, fire, police) for fear their housing situation will be exposed. When they reach out for help the ability of some of the best housing advocates to help them is often limited.

Somerville used to have several family shelters that greatly helped families stay in their community, maintain their employment, and provide educational stability for children. Yet when housing costs began rising, emergency shelters became extinct in our community.

It’s time we ask ourselves and our elects about having an emergency shelter here in Somerville. I know that this is an issue that I’ll be keenly focused on this election season. It is time we started looking at immediate solutions and not just the long-term solutions.