Homeless in Lowell: Deja vu all over again
ONE COUNCILOR described Lowell’s homeless shelter on Middlesex Street as a “cancer” on the surrounding Jackson-appleton-middlesex neighborhood.
Another councilor thundered that the Lowell Transitional Living Center “shouldn’t even be there.”
“We’re all spinning our wheels if that shelter stays operating as it operates now,” he said.
A business owner and resident said her neighborhood was “being held hostage” by the shelter.
What’s stupefying is that these comments, which were made during a City Council meeting back in 2007, are still being expressed in today’s conversations about the emergency shelter for homeless adults in Downtown Lowell.
The 17-year-old quotes, by then-city Councilor Eileen Donoghue, who went on to become a state senator and city manager; former Mayor Armand Mercier; and Karen Bell, owner of the long-closed Club Fitness Health & Spa and president of the JAM Business and Residents Association, eerily reflect the ongoing debate over whether and how the shelter, that has been at the center of Lowell’s homeless crisis for 35 years, is appropriately serving the community’s needs.
LTLC provides beds for homeless individuals from the Merrimack Valley communities of Amesbury, Andover, Billerica, Boxford, Chelmsford, Dracut, Dunstable, Georgetown, Groveland, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lowell, Merrimac, Methuen, Newbury, Newburyport, North Andover, Rowley, Salisbury, Tewksbury, Tyngsboro, West Newbury, Westford and Wilmington.
Although many communities have unhoused people, not all communities provide services for that demographic. Instead, each town has an agreement with the South Middlesex Opportunity Council, the operator of the LTLC.
But according to staff at the shelter, police agencies from towns outside LTLC’S Merrimack Valley service area make the drive to drop off homeless people to be served by the shelter, intensifying an already overwhelmed system.
In January, the city conducted its annual, federally mandated point-intime count of the num
ber of people experiencing homelessness, and found there are 189 sheltered and 97 unsheltered individuals in Lowell.
The PIT count captured people in congregate-style housing such as shelters, in temporary subsidized motels and in doorways and other outdoor locations like encampments, including the sprawling and well-defined camp along the Merrimack River off Pawtucket Street.
A recent Sun article about the homeless crisis generated reader feedback regarding the capacity and capability of the shelter to meet the needs of such a large, growing and impacted population. Some readers saw the question of the bed-to-people ratio as a slam on Managing Director Isaiah Stephens, whose work was inspired and is driven by the former homelessness of his mom. Others saw the story as affirming widely known, but ignored, metrics.
Stephens runs LTLC’S daily operations with the missionary zeal of a true believer. But is his selfless, unrelenting and understaffed work receiving the high-level support needed to address the high-needs homeless community of Lowell? Or is it 2007 all over again?
A reader emailed, “Think for a moment what it must feel like to run an enormous shelter (biggest north of Boston), with so many souls. And even though you feed and house more than a hundred people a day … people still wanna tear you down. The way (the) article is written simply isn’t the reality of the situation.”
In contrast, another reader wrote, “Your article confirms what the homeless has told me, they are being turned away at the homeless shelter. The City officials and the Shelter have denied turning anyone away. Shame on them giving out false information and blaming the poor homeless for sleeping on the streets.”
Numerous shelter residents interviewed by the paper have reported cockroach and bedbug infestations.
A review of almost two years’ worth of Board of Health meeting minutes of Development Services Reports submitted by the senior sanitary code inspector doesn’t show that the shelter has been the site of any inspections or code violations.
Last August, Lowell hosted a Greater Lowell Regional Meeting on Homelessness at Umass Lowell, but most of the invited representatives from the towns serviced by SMOC’S compact with LTLC couldn’t be bothered to show up.
In a quote that channeled his back-to-the-future council colleagues, Councilor Erik Gitschier said the solution was bigger than the city that was already carrying the water for the homeless in the region.
“I was very disappointed … If we’re going to be serious about homelessness, and the (City) manager (Tom Golden) worked very hard at reaching out to people — they need to come to the table,” Gitschier said in remarks made during a council meeting at City Hall. “Lowell can’t be the solution for everybody’s homelessness.”
It sounds like a lot of people need to come to the table to speak freely — without fear of rebuke, retribution or sanction — about the needs of the homeless population in Lowell, and the types, quality and oversight of the services being delivered in the city on its behalf.
Surprise storm funding
SOME GOOD news has come into Billerica after those historic rainstorms that struck the region last year, causing damage in a number of nearby cities and towns. On Aug. 8, Billerica
was one of several towns to experience intense rainfall that peaked at more than 7 inches in one hour, causing flash flooding few in the town were prepared for.
Last month the Healey administration announced the first $10 million in state disaster relief funding for the communities that were damaged by the severe flooding. Billerica was the only community in Middlesex County to receive any funding, a surprise after Town Manager John Curran had expressed doubt that the town would qualify for any funding at all, as Billerica hadn’t seen the same level of damage as other towns from the summer storms.
He said in the week after the Aug. 8 storm that most of the damage in Billerica was residential, but there had been about $600,000 in damages to schools. The Middlesex Crossing apartment complex on Concord Road had an estimated $150,000 in damages.
Billerica’s allocation from this first round of funding certainly will not cover all of the expenses incurred from damages and cleanup, with just $165,000 going to the town. In the town manager’s report for the Feb. 26 Select Board meeting, Curran said it is still not clear how the town can actually use the money, and that he is awaiting guidance from the state Department of Revenue.
“It is likely that the money would cover municipal costs incurred because of the storm,” said Curran’s report.
A second round of funding totaling $5 million is expected to be distributed to help communities that saw damages from more severe storms in September, though it is unclear if Billerica will also be included in that allocation.
What is it about Dracut?
THERE’S JUST something about Dracut. Those words seem to echo the title of a 1998 romantic comedy — “There’s Something About Mary.” But in Dracut’s case that something is not romantic and certainly not comical.
The town’s landscape has changed over its 323year history. Parts of town, particularly East Dracut, retain the pastoral beauty of its rural past. In other areas, old mill buildings and large homes with well-manicured lawns reflect the town’s growth over the intervening centuries.
But underneath it all, there is “something” that can’t be restrained. It reappeared this past week as the town confronts a $3 million budget deficit in fiscal 2025 and faces more deficits in following years.
If the town cannot find a way to close that gap, layoffs are assured and will be across the board, Town Manager Ann Vandal has said. Every department will be affected.
Vandal has confirmed she met with at least one employee to say that his job will be gone if the gap can’t be closed.
Economic Development Project Planner Dan Phelps has been a oneman department since his hire in August 2021. Before that he had been a columnist and editor at The Sun for more than 30 years before taking the Dracut job. And any rumors aside, Phelps still holds that job and will continue to perform his role at least through the end of the current fiscal year, if not longer.
Word that Phelps had been advised his job was in jeopardy unleashed what some see as a toxic blast of mockery from a political commentator at Dracut Access Television. And it has observers opining that this behavior runs counter to any efforts to involve more people in town affairs, a goal that has been endorsed by all sides of the town’s political divide.
The Facebook summary of Wednesday night’s “What’s Happening Dracut” begins, “We hear the Town Manager has begun to inform department heads about impending budget cuts! First on the block is the very ineffective Community Development (sic) project planner, Dan Phelps.”
The post later continues, “He performed a very important duty in Dracut. He was great at scheduling ribbon cuttings for his bosses BOS Chairman Alison Genest, Selectman Joe Dirocco, Selectman Jennifer Kopcinski and Town
Manager Ann Vandal.”
The program has not yet been posted by DATV, but John Zimini, a former selectman, says he was the host that night. The Facebook summary was not signed, something he says he should have done. The program is also sometimes hosted by other well-connected commentators, Phil Thibault and Gordy Scott.
As for the content of the show, Zimini says, “I like Dan Phelps. He’s a great guy. He just isn’t an economic development guy.” He criticizes Phelps for not bringing any major new business to Dracut to expand the town’s tax base.
Zimini posted a photo of Phelps, which apparently came originally from the Phelps family collection. Members of the family blasted Zimini for that and demanded it be taken down, which it has.
The show and its Facebook summary have ignited outrage in Dracut, some probably coming from Lowell, Phelps’ hometown. Zimini says he is still hearing angry feedback about the program.
“What’s Happening Dracut” on Wednesday night was followed on Thursday night by
“The Dracut Connection,” hosted by George Boag, a sometime-candidate for a seat on the Board of Selectmen. His guest was Matt Sheehan, a member of the Greater Lowell Technical High School Committee and the Dracut Housing Authority.
Boag began the conversation by asking Sheehan about the Phelps controversy before moving on to any other topics. He started by saying they wouldn’t be able “to talk about any shading dealings” on DATV’S board of directors but could criticize the program.
Sheehan called it the kind of program that “gives Dracut a bad rap.”
Zimini, Thibault, Scott and Sheehan are all members of the DATV board of directors. Zimini is its president, Thibault its vice president. Rebecca Duda, who is also a member of the Dracut School Committee, is clerk.
Also a member of the board of directors is Brian Genest, who is married to Alison Genest, who chairs the Board of Selectmen.
DATV’S board meetings must be difficult to attend with members so vehemently attached to one side or another in town politics. Zimini and Thibault are sharply critical of the selectmen. And Brian Genest is known for brutal commentary on any criticism of that board’s 3-2 political alignment. Although not a member of the DATV board, Boag’s “shady dealings” remark may have hinted at the difficulty of running a meeting with such members.
Meanwhile, town political squabbles are unlikely to let up. There’s nothing quite like budget deficits to stir up bad feelings, it seems.
This week’s Column was prepared by reporters Melanie Gilbert in Lowell, Peter Currier in Billerica, and Prudence Brighton in Dracut.