“Hello! We’re from CHD!” Anybody there?” called out Daimarie Marquez-Santiago. “We have food!” Marquez-Santiago, a program supervisor in CHD’s division of Diversion, Shelter, and Housing (DSH), was with a CHD team approaching a tent encampment in a wooded area in Holyoke.
The effort was part of a “Point-in-Time” Count of homeless individuals conducted across the country on the same day every year. CHD’s DSH teams led the endeavor, along with participation from area community partners, in Chicopee and Holyoke on January 29, splitting into groups and canvassing outdoor locations where people are known to stay.
This count is the local portion of a national census in which data is collected and reported to the US Department of Housing and Development (HUD) for its annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress. CHD also handed out food, hygiene kits, socks, backpacks, handwarmers, flashlights, and wearable items to protect unhoused individuals from the elements. In addition, outreach workers distributed information on how to access various community resources.
“We need accurate numbers of people who are unhoused and their basic demographics to help support federal, state, and local policy and funding decisions,” said Christy O’Brien, senior division director of DSH. “We are also able to connect unhoused people to services and case management, which is really critical. Our teams are distributing information on housing assistance, medical, mental health, and substance use care.”
CHD Outreach Worker Eric Medina was one of several staff accompanying O’Brien to several outdoor encampments. “We try to get them out of the encampments and into stable housing,” he said. Holyoke is one of the cities across the US grappling with the rise of these homeless camps and the pressure to address them, especially when they become more populated. And there are certainly difficulties collecting data on people who are trying to escape public notice. Some opt for the privacy a tent offers—and the lack of shelter rules—even when it gets cold out. “Many of them are afraid of the system, but we try our best to get them out of that mindset and into a housing program,” he said.
Hard Luck and Circumstances
During this year’s Point-in-Time Count, CHD was aided by John, a volunteer “ambassador” who is a resident of one of the encampments. In fact, HUD encourages the participation of currently or formerly homeless individuals as an indispensable resource to a successful count. John helped guide O’Brien’s team through several streets and places that the homeless frequent during the day, including an area nicknamed “The Block,” and Kate’s Kitchen, a community kitchen that offers free lunches to the needy.
Sure enough, outreach workers were able to interview many unhoused individuals in the kitchen dining area and in its parking lot, including 58-year-old Al, who talked to CHD Direct Care Staff Jesszmeraldy Lopez. Al has been living in a tent under a bridge, but lately the frigid weather and wind have made this extremely difficult. “I had to batten down the hatches this morning, he said. “My tarp was blowing everywhere.”
Still, he was confident that his tent was both sturdy and well-hidden. “Out here,” he said, gesturing to others in the parking lot, “you can’t let people know where you’re staying, because then your things disappear.”
Lopez took down Al’s information, including physical and mental issues.
“I have a bad heart and liver cancer,” he said.
“Do you have depression or anxiety?” she asked.
“Yeah, and I’m taking medication for both,” he answered.
“Do you have any visual impairment?”
“I have glasses,” he said. He wasn’t wearing them.
He also said he is a victim of domestic violence, and his attacker threatened to burn down his tent. “She tried to run me over in her car, too,” he added. “She beat me up, and I still have a scar.”
Al said he used to be a truck driver and once owned a $430,000 home in Wilbraham, but for the last 10 years he has been homeless. “I was a Class A driver and a contractor—now look at me,” he said with a jaded chuckle.
Lopez took down his information and gave him the phone number for the former Motel 6, which has a 45-bed capacity.
The team went on to more interviews, including Jessica and Travis, who were technically not homeless because he had a room “as long as I clean the building,” and she sleeps on his couch.
“Would you like lunch?” asked O’Brien.
“I’d love lunch,” answered Jessica, who accepted a bag that included a turkey and cheese sandwich.
O’Brien also handed them her business card. “Call me after one o’clock, when we’re done with the surveys, and we can talk housing,” she said.
Down the street, there was a group of four younger men, in their late 20s or early 30s, some of whom accepted food and other supplies from the CHD group, but one of them, who had a relatively fresh cut on his forehead, clearly didn’t want to be approached. “Have you received treatment for that wound?” asked O’Brien. He was not willing to engage in conversation and stormed down the sidewalk. After briefly talking with the others, the CHD team compared notes. “Three out of the four of them are homeless,” said O’Brien, however, they gave out no further information, and they walked away.
We encountered another couple, Peter and Alexis—along with their dog—who were homeless because, said Peter, “A drunk driver hit our house and it burned down.” This occurred in Chicopee in 2023, when a car fleeing police slammed into the house where the couple was staying with Peter’s brother. A gas line was ignited, and Peter managed to save his brother and his own dog. But they lost everything, including their home.
The Numbers and the Need for Strategies
The Springfield-Hampden County Continuum of Care, which is the federally funded collaborative responsible for responding to homelessness in our region, reported that there were 211 homeless individuals identified in this year’s Point-in-Time Count—so officially there were more unhoused people in the county than last year’s count. Additionally, these people are above-and-beyond those individuals staying in any of the various area shelters on the same night. Last year, there were 2,091 of them—a tally that was up 8.1 percent from the number counted in 2023. Nationally, 771,480 people were counted in 2024, which was an all-time high.
O’Brien’s preliminary numbers: more than 87 outdoor homeless alone in Holyoke alone, as opposed to 70 last year, and more than 11 for Chicopee (17 in 2024). “People we encountered in January will be offered case management services and become part of our routine outreach efforts,” she said. “I was thrilled that a number of people who I spoke with and asked to go to our drop-in Outreach and Triage Center the next day, and did, indeed, show up.”
What steps need to be taken to end the homelessness crisis? Last summer, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed the Affordable Homes Act (AHA) into law. The legislation authorizes $5.16 billion in spending over the next five years, along with nearly 50 policy initiatives, to counter rising housing costs caused by high housing demand and limited supply, which has contributed to people becoming displaced and unhoused.
O’Brien said it does appear that a major intention of the Affordable Homes Act and all its provisions is to provide a sustainable solution to homelessness over the longer term for the Commonwealth. “While the current crisis is a higher incidence of unhoused individuals and families and the impossibility of sheltering all sufficiently, the prioritization of creating affordable housing does aim to offer a solution down the road,” she said.
While the AHA provides a meaningful step, according to Dr. William Dávila, vice president of DSH at CHD, he also pointed out the critical role of addressing the social determinants of health in reducing homelessness. “I think it’s important to think about affordable housing,” he said. “But it’s not just that. It’s about a number of systemic challenges that are complex. We have to think about such issues as mental health, addiction, the workforce—the need for livable wages and employment opportunities for our participants—as well as public transportation, affordable day care, food insecurity, and the importance of English language proficiency and literacy, among factors.”
In the meantime, as the US looks for answers to the growing numbers of unhoused people, the Point-in-Time Count is crucial in helping communities assess the scope of homelessness and enables organizations to attain the resources they need to assist them. “The Point-in-Time Count gives the government much more information to work with,” said O’Brien. “Quantifying the unsheltered population is not only essential for funding and research, but importantly it ensures that we are able to help each individual know they are seen and that they matter—we can look them in the eye and say, ‘Hey, we know who you are, and we’re going to make sure the government knows you are someone who needs more support.’”
