Local agencies describe struggle to find housing

The Rev. Daniel Osgood of Greenfield’s Covenant Church, center, with members of the congregation.

The Rev. Daniel Osgood of Greenfield’s Covenant Church, center, with members of the congregation. —FILE PHOTO

By JESSECA TIMMONS

Monadnock Ledger-Transcript   

Published: 09-28-2023 9:15 AM

First of a series on homelessness in the eastern Monadnock region.

Visitors are drawn to the Monadnock region for the beauty of the small towns, the lakes and mountains, art and culture and the charm of locally-owned businesses.  

But as in every part of New Hampshire, an increasing number of residents in the region are struggling to find housing.

“Homelessness looks different in a rural area. It’s not people on the streets; it’s not a person with a shopping cart. It’s people who have been couch-surfing for months until they just completely run out of options,” said Jennifer Runyon, a board member of the Monadnock Area Transitional Shelter (MATS). 

In 2018, Lisa Rogers, who is the McKinney-Vento (Federal Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program) outreach worker at ConVal, created the Eastern Monadnock Housing Security Coalition to share resources and strategize solutions to the housing crisis in the region.  The coalition includes representatives from Antrim’s Grapevine, Peterborough’s River Center, MATS, Jaffrey’s Shelter from the Storm, the Western Hillsborough County branch of Southern New Hampshire Services (SNHS)  and members of the clergy and other social service nonprofits.  

The Rev. Daniel Osgood of Greenfield’s Covenant Church has worked with the coalition for the past five years. 

“Homelessness is often not what people think,” Osgood said. “It’s not people who are lazy and not working, and it’s not all people abusing drugs and alcohol. These ideas persist, but it’s simply not true. If you look at so many of these families, there is almost always an illness, there has been a death, there’s a divorce. They can’t work because they to care for children or a sick family member. It’s as simple as that.” 

For the past several years, Erika Alusic-Bingham of SNHS has been working with local churches to create “pop-up shelters” for people who have suddenly become homeless, often because of a family emergency or an unexpected eviction.

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“According to the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority, rents in Hillsborough Country have gone up 47% since 2018. Wages have not kept up with the rents. You have to be making $33 an hour to afford even a two-bedroom apartment,” Alusic-Bingham said. “People know that if they lose their housing, they will never find something else.” 

SNHS is also working to open a cold-weather shelter in the Peterborough area.

“We have a lot of clients who have been camping or sleeping in their cars, but once it’s too cold, it is illegal to be camping with children after a certain date and DCYF (the state’s Division of Children, Youth & Families) can get involved,” Alusic-Bingham said. “People keep their situations very quiet. The numbers reported are probably not accurate.”

In Greenfield, the Covenant Church provides temporary housing in its “Richardson Apartment,” named for a family who attended the church while their child was a patient in the severe brain injury wing at the Crotched Mountain Foundation and later donated $10,000 to the church.  

“Our church never intended to provide housing for anyone, but there was a need, so we do what we can,” Osgood said. “Greenfield has been wonderful in supporting us. The apartment is always full, and there are always people waiting.”

The Richardson Apartment recently hosted an extended family with young children whose home was damaged in a fire, and provided housing until they were able to return home. 

“What makes rural areas different is homelessness is mostly invisible,” said Linda Harris, director of Jaffrey’s Shelter from the Storm. “We have no mental health facilities anymore in New Hampshire; a lot of these people have mental health issues. They have to referred for mental health care, and there is no place to refer them to.” 

Osgood, Harris and Alusic-Bingham all cited the “lack of safety net” as the primary factor in families becoming unhoused.

“Many of our clients at MATS just do not come from a strong family structure. They have no one to help them when something goes wrong, and it’s not only people from one socioeconomic level,” said Runyon. “It can happen to anyone.” 

In Jaffrey, Harris works with the town welfare office to match qualified individuals with Shelter From the Storm’s apartments.

“Our organization does not provide emergency housing. It’s a whole process; people work with the town to apply, there is a lot of paperwork. If they are accepted, we provide support for them while they are our guests, to get them back on their feet,” Harris said.

Harris has seen many of Jaffrey’s apartments and multifamily housing change hands in the past few years, with new owners coming from out of state and raising rents. 

“We are grateful for the landlords we’ve been working with for years in Jaffrey who are part of our local community,” Harris said. “What we are seeing a lot of now is people take housing thinking they will be able to manage the higher rent under these new landlords, but after three months, they just absolutely can’t survive, and they are out. Then they have to start all over, and there is nowhere to go.” 

For help finding housing, call the State Homelessness Hotline at 211. The next story in the series will be about the process people go through when they get evicted or lose their housing, and how local agencies provide services to get them back on their feet.

In a related story, Yvonne Vissing will talk about juvenile homelessness at Peterborough Town Library Oct. 2.