DANVERS — Town Manager Wayne Marquis now has some say on the state level when it comes to cities and towns dealing with the needs of homeless sheltered in motels.
Marquis said he was asked by the Massachusetts Municipal Association to be its representative on a new advisory board to the governor's Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness, whose chairman is Lt. Gov. Tim Murray.
"The first item I brought up was the issue of the families in motels," Marquis told selectmen recently. "I didn't see it on their priority list. It's now on the priority list."
Marquis, who attended his first meeting of the advisory board the week before last, said other representatives chimed in when he brought up the issue, including one from Boston.
Marquis has been picked to serve on the advisory board just as the town is dealing with a sharp increase in homeless families living in motels in recent weeks.
There were 68 families at the end of April and 120 families last week. The numbers are similar to those seen in the fall of 2009, when levels peaked. The town is scrambling to put in place a summer program for about 40 homeless children who would otherwise have nothing to do this summer. The arrival of homeless in motels also puts a strain on Danvers' budget, as the schools spent $158,000 on transportation last year and $50,000 this fiscal year to bus students to and from motels to schools in town and in other communities.
The interagency council is made up of cabinet-level secretaries and commissioners of state agencies. Its mission is to implement the five-year strategic plan of the Massachusetts Commission to End Homelessness. The plan is to end homelessness by 2013 with a "housing first approach."
The advisory board to the council is relatively new, said Liz Rogers, the executive director of the Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness. It meets four times a year and is meant to formalize what had been an ad hoc approach of getting feedback from community leaders and others on issues of homelessness. Its members represent about 25 statewide groups, including the Massachusetts Municipal Association.
Rogers called Marquis "a good fit" on the advisory board, and she said she had spoken to him in the past about homeless families living in motels.
"We are looking for good ideas," Rogers said. "There is a lot of need right now."
Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673, at eforman@salemnews.com or on Twitter @DanverSalemNews.
Sister Says She Reported Brother in Patz Killing
Patz Suspect's Sister: I Went to Police in 1980s
Diplomatic Expulsions Follow Fresh Syria Report
15 Dead in Northern Italy's 5.8-magnitude Quake
Angry Birds Spreading Their Wings
Witness Describes Fla. Face-chewing Attack
Man Falls Off Crane, Dies After Police Standoff
Russia Condemns Ally Syria Over Massacre of 108
Dairy Farm Uses Chiropractor to Help Cows
Unexpected Smog in Pristine National Parks
Air Canada Plane Makes Emergency Landing
New Ticks Spread Across Southeast, Diseases Rise
Bring Your Own Tech Programs Charge Up Students
Pope's Butler Vows to Help Vatican Investigation
Mother of Allegedly Abused Girl Denies Claims
Raw Video: 19 Dead in Qatar Shopping Mall Fire
Service Dogs Help Wash. Soldiers Battling PTSD
Raw Video: Heckler Bursts in on Blair Testimony
Japan Farmers Plant, Seek Radiation-free Rice
