DANVERS — It was as if an entire neighborhood showed up on Danvers' doorstep.
Shortly before Labor Day, school administrators and town officials began to fret. Student numbers were dramatically higher than spring estimates, at one point reaching 84.
"Sort of within a two-week time frame, we saw enrollment increase," school Superintendent Lisa Dana said.
What town leaders didn't realize was that the state's burgeoning homeless population had overwhelmed family shelters. With no space left, the state had started putting families up in motels.
More than 100 homeless families had been sent to live temporarily in three Danvers motels: the Days Inn, Knights Inn and Motel 6. The families came from as close as Beverly and as far as Roxbury, but primarily from the region north of Boston.
As the start of school neared, the motel parents considered their options: Enroll their children in Danvers schools or ask to have them bused to their home districts, an option provided to homeless families under federal law.
Soon, town officials would estimate the costs at nearly a half-million dollars.
Danvers was at the center of a perfect storm.
The sour economy had forced up unemployment, adding to the number of evictions and foreclosures and helping to produce the largest increase in homeless families the state has seen in generations.
At its worst in November, 3,507 families in Massachusetts were homeless, according to the Department of Housing and Community Development. The number of families living in motels in 28 communities peaked in October at 1,077. Danvers became the temporary home to about 10 percent of them, topping off at 138 families.
As of Jan. 6, 963 homeless families were living in hotels or motels, 79 of them in Danvers.
By law, the state guarantees a "right to shelter" for every eligible family, according to Robert Pulster, the point person on homelessness at the state Department of Housing and Community Development. It's the only state in the country that provides such a guarantee.
That means Massachusetts has no cap on the number of homeless families it will house. When shelters max out at 2,000 families, the state turns to motels.
Pulster called that solution a "last resort." Not only are families uprooted and stuck in one room together for months, but it's incredibly expensive.
The state pays about $75 a night for each family it puts in motels. And it is slow to move people into permanent homes, in part due to a shortage of affordable housing. In fact, the average stay for a family in a motel is eight months — or about $18,000 per family.
Statewide, the motels cost taxpayers about $2.8 million a month.
In Danvers motels, parents and children, single mothers and fathers, and pregnant mothers have formed a de facto neighborhood with all its social implications.
By December, Town Manager Wayne Marquis had crunched the numbers and realized the community would need considerable financial help. He gave a letter to Lt. Gov. Tim Murray, who serves as chairman of the state's Inter-Agency Council on Housing and Homelessness.
Danvers' school expenses alone would by June 30 add up to about $475,000, a figure based on the per-pupil cost for students and transportation of as much as $175,000.
In December, the town had 77 additional school-age children, 35 in Danvers and the remaining 42 transported to their home districts, according to Marquis' letter. Danvers must split the busing costs with the children's home districts.
So far, the town hasn't received any additional state aid for the costs it's bearing.
"Some of the direct out-of-pocket costs, we're hoping for some help with that," Marquis said. "At this point, I haven't been given any cause for optimism."
The town manager handed his letter directly to Murray, who said he understood the issue and would ask a staff member to contact Danvers. Marquis hasn't received a call yet.
Danvers state Rep. Ted Speliotis has pledged to work with fellow legislators in the 28 communities with hotel and motel families to seek state help.
Slow to find housing
The state provides some services to motel families, but not nearly enough.
The Department of Public Health sends "home visitors."
"They knock on doors and meet with families to provide social services," Pulster said.
Danvers' home visitors go to the motels two to four days a week, depending on the number of families, DPH spokeswoman Jennifer Manley said. They help families sign up for food stamps and access health care and substance abuse treatment, she said. Each family is visited at least twice a month and more if needed.
But helping families find permanent, low-income housing has been a major challenge.
The state pays agencies such as the North Shore Community Action Programs a per-family fee to work with motel families to find housing, Pulster said.
But NSCAP is working on an "ad hoc basis" with only eight Danvers motel families, Executive Director Beth Hogan said. A sister agency, North Shore Housing Action Group, is providing limited help to another five families, regional coordinator Kara Ullestad said.
"We are working with a small number of (motel) families and hope to expand that service," Hogan said. "I do feel optimistic that things are going to improve."
The problem is that they get the fee only after they place a family in permanent housing. With a limited amount of housing available, the local agencies can't afford to take on an additional 138 families.
"Everyone is just trying to do their part on top of the current work that they're doing," Ullestad said.
In other words, motel families are competing with all the other needy families on the North Shore for NSCAP's precious resources.
Pulster saw it differently.
"They've chosen to have a limited scope of who they work with," he said. "We would have loved it if they could take on more. They chose to do what they thought they were able to do."
There's finger-pointing at the state and local levels. Caught in the middle are people like Natarsha Crowley, who's lived at Days Inn since July 14 with her 3-year-old daughter, Vanessa.
"We've been here for a long time, and we're forgotten," she said on Christmas Eve, her voice cracking.
Crowley has waited more than five months for permanent housing. The single mother's only income is her unemployment check. Knowing she could be placed anywhere in a 20-mile radius, she hesitates to search for work until she has a permanent address.
"Nobody's helping," said Crowley, who's called NSCAP at least three times for additional assistance.
Motel living
For families, motel living is no vacation.
"Nobody wants to be in these hotels," Speliotis said. "Everything they've ever accumulated in life that's worth saving is in these rooms."
But because motel occupancy tends to be off, the option of housing homeless families appeals to some motels.
"These hotel chains seek contracts from the commonwealth," Speliotis said. "They find it attractive."
In November alone, the state paid the three Danvers motels a total of $270,154.
Multiple messages left at the three Danvers motels were not returned.
Pulster said the contracted motels must provide a refrigerator and microwave in every room. The motels are also asked to offer cots and cribs as needed.
"Really, the hotels step up and work with the commonwealth to meet this need," he said.
The motels, of course, are paid. The town of Danvers is not.
And as the needs have grown, so has the concern.
Speliotis said he's focused on finding financial help for communities coping with the unexpected costs of motel families.
"That's only fair because this is a state program," the Democrat said. "Our goal is to try to assist cities and towns."
To date, Danvers has received no direct state aid.
"The first order of business is to provide services to these Danvers residents in need," Marquis said. "How to pay for it, we'll keep working on it."
And though DHCD relies on the state's education department to notify towns of a rise in homeless populations, Pulster acknowledged the state could improve its communication.
"We do attempt to reach out and let our municipal partners know," Pulster said. "Obviously, we can do better."
¢¢¢
Photographer Deborah Parker contributed to this story.
Guaranteed shelter
Massachusetts' "Right to Shelter" law means every eligible family is guaranteed a roof over its head if it loses its housing. Only New York City and Hennepin County, Minn. — but no other state — offer similar guarantees, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
In Massachusetts, 90 percent of the families in the shelter and motel system are from this state, according to the Department of Housing and Community Development. "If you're in Massachusetts, you're considered a resident of Massachusetts," said Robert Pulster of the DHCD.
To qualify, a homeless family must earn 115 percent of the federal poverty level or less, or a maximum of $25,368 for a family of four. They must have children or be expecting a child, and they must have been evicted and lack alternative feasible housing.
"Massachusetts as a state assumes a lot of responsibility for the homeless," said Nan Roman, president and CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
While approaches differ nationally, during a shelter shortage, many locales, like Washington, D.C., where the alliance is based, put homeless families on wait lists.
"People double up," she said. "They try to stay with somebody before they enter the shelter."
Other states try to make a variety of arrangements.
"Sometimes a place uses hotels and motels short-term," Roman said. "It's very expensive. If they do it, they don't do it long."
EXPENSES
Some of the money appropriated in fiscal 2010 for sheltering homeless and needy families in Massachusetts:
State budget
$91.61 million: Emergency assistance to put families in shelters and motels
$6.85 million: Operating budget for the Department of Housing and Community Development, which oversees the state's homeless effort
$4.73 million: Operation of the homeless shelter and service unit, including salaries for caseworkers and support personnel
$3.06 million: Supplemental funds for families moving into apartments or at risk being evicted. Can be used for rent and utilities.
Federal stimulus funds
$44.6 million: Homeless prevention
$18.4 million to the state
$26.2 million to the state's 19 largest cities
Sources: State budget and mass.gov
Motel money
Amount the state paid the three Danvers motels in November:
Days Inn, $139,800
Knights Inn, $10,554
Motel 6, $119,800
TOTAL, $270,154
Source: Department of Housing and Community Development
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