It’s no secret that housing, particularly rental housing, is an increasing scarcity in the Monadnock region. Less-visible is the pressure that puts on the area’s few existing emergency and transitional shelters, where capacity is maxed out and wait lists can be years-long. More pop-up emergency shelters in the region could help, according to the newly-formed Eastern Monadnock Housing Security Coalition. The group, comprised of towns, nonprofits, and faith-based communities, formed this winter to promote housing security. One way to do that is to work with area churches, or other entities with room to spare, to create safe spaces that provide shelter in an emergency.
Typically, when a person finds themselves unsheltered, they first go to an emergency shelter, where they might stay for a month or two as they secure a longer-term option, whether that’s an apartment or a transitional shelter, Shelter from the Storm Executive Director Linda Harris said.
“The shelter is a haven for them to take a minute, be safe, recharge and get ready for next steps. It provides a location, a point of reference, a secure space to do the work of becoming housed again,” Southern New Hampshire Services Director Erika Alusic-Bingham said.
However, the region’s housing crunch is making it harder for people in shelters to progress to permanent housing, a trend the COVID-19 pandemic only deepened, Monadnock Area Transitional Shelter (MATS) Program Manager Susan Howard said. It used to take a handful of months before a vacancy opened in historically affordable apartments, such as the Heatherbrook and Rockbrook apartment complexes in Peterborough, but now wait times are over two years, she said. MATS is currently in the process of renovating two new apartments in order to accommodate the region’s need, the coalition said in a press release.
Meanwhile, the housing crunch is also contributing to housing insecurity among a new demographic: “Many of the families that we are trying to find housing for have been displaced because the properties they were renting have been sold,” the coalition said in a press release, or due to untenable rent increases. “They could pay two or three month’s rent ahead of time, they just can’t find a place,” Howard said. Emergency shelter can give people with any income level the necessary time to wait for a more permanent option to open up, Howard said, in absence of which they may otherwise leave the area, along with their jobs in the community.
So, what does the coalition want? For one, they’re looking for area churches to offer up space that could be used for emergency shelter, or alternately, funding for renovations to create suitable emergency shelter space in other churches, according to a press release. The idea is that participating churches would only be responsible for providing the space: area family service providers from Southern New Hampshire Services, The River Center, or The Grapevine would act as case managers until the guest individual or family finds permanent housing or moves into a transitional shelter, according to the press release.
“Ideally, the coalition would love for each town to have their own pop up emergency shelter with the idea that they may never need to use it, but if the need arises, they have the space,” the coalition said in a press release. It is typical not to publicize an emergency shelter’s specific location in order to protect the occupants, and to reduce the likelihood of someone in need arriving unannounced.
The Greenfield Congregational Covenant Church has provided emergency shelter for more than a decade. It started when a member of the Greenfield Congregational Covenant Church lost his job and began staying at Hundred Nights in Keene, coalition member Rev. Dan Osgood said.
“I really knew nothing about shelters. I assumed you went to a shelter and you stayed there. Well, you don’t,” he said. The man, who had significant health issues, had to leave the shelter every day to return at night. “This was the end of January,” Osgood said. “I had a member of our congregation come to me and say, can we really go along with this when we have space that we could offer this guy?” Osgood agreed to offer the man shelter in a room the church owned. “He came there and stayed, it gave us an opportunity to minister to him in what turned out to be his last days,” Osgood said. “Then it just went from there,” he said. A generous donation from a family converted the room to an efficiency apartment, with a shower, sink, full-sized refrigerator, and its own entrance and fire escape, Osgood said.
Osgood is now sharing his church’s experience in hopes of encouraging others to do the same. “As Christian churches, we’re called to reach out to the homeless, to feed the poor, to clothe the naked. That’s pretty clear in scripture,” he said. A vigorous vetting process and close collaboration with Southern New Hampshire Services helps Osgood’s church set boundaries with their guests and minimize difficult situations, he said. “Obviously, you need to go into this with your eyes open, but more than that, you need to have your heart open,” he said.
“We will endeavor to place families that will be a good fit for the shelter space available. They will have the supports needed to make sure that the relationship is a positive one for both the family and the organization sheltering them,” Alusic-Bingham said.
The coalition recently produced a handbook to help area churches and other potential emergency shelter providers conceptualize how to do it.
“I would say it’s probably a lot more simple than people would anticipate,” coalition member Sarah Ellis said. Ellis helped write the handbook and serves as a moderator at the United Church of Jaffrey. “If they are just thinking about this and wondering if their facility is appropriate,” she said, or how much space, time, and supervision the undertaking requires, “those are all conversations that can be started with anyone in the coalition,” she said.
The coalition plans to host an informational session on the emergency pop-up shelter campaign sometime this fall. In the meantime, anyone interested in more information, or receiving a copy of the handbook can email EasternmonadnockHSC@gmail.com or call Mackenzie Nichols at 562-6672.
People in need of emergency housing should contact MATS, The River Center, or Grapevine Family and Community Resource Center for assistance.