Last Resort for Homeless

By Ali Bhanpuri

DOWNTOWN— Marlene Johnson rolls her jacket into a ball, lays it gently on the stained floor and uses it at as a pillow.

A few feet away hangs a framed replica of Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks.” Printed beneath the painting is “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.”

Johnson says spending the night at the Boston Night Center is better than on the broken, cold streets of the city.

“We understand we have to sleep on the floor with no blankets,” says Johnson, 50, who has been homeless since 2003. “I usually try [staying] at Pine Street first, but if I can’t get in there then I’m either here or on the street.”

For more than two decades, individuals such as Johnson have sought refuge at the Boston Night Center at 31 Bowker St. The Center—a subsidiary of the Pine Street Inn—provides emergency housing for 50 to 60 people nightly and is the last resort for most people, says Fred Lee, the center’s supervisor.

“We are not a conventional center in that people sleep on chairs, or lay their heads on tables or lay on the floor,” says Lee, who has worked at the center for the past five years. “[The Center] is less comfortable [than other shelters in the area], but people sacrifice comfort for the convenience of the area.”

The Center opens its doors at 8 p.m., four hours later than most shelters in the area. Those who stay at the facility have usually been denied entrance at other shelters earlier in the day, Lee says.

Massachusetts has about 2,000 families and 2,900 individuals in shelters, an increase of 143 families and 93 individuals from Oct. of 2007, according to the state Department of Transitional Assistance.

“Several factors have contributed to the growth in the number of homeless families in shelters in Massachusetts: The overall economic climate is poor, and the symptoms of this decline are increasing unemployment rates, along with increasing gas, utility and food costs ” says Kristina Saunders, communications manager of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services.

The unemployment rate has increased in Massachusetts from 3.4 percent in Sept. 1988 to 5.3 percent in September of this year and has not been this high since 2004, according to the state Bureau of Labor statistics.

The Center functions as a meeting place for individuals with psychiatric disabilities during the day. Lee says the shelter’s occupancy rate has remained constant over the years, but he has seen “new faces recently.”

Steven Auger, 43, of Everett says he has been coming to the center since August. Auger, who painted houses and worked construction before suffering a debilitating hand injury, says the center is the only shelter where he feels comfortable staying.

“A lot of other [shelters] are cliquey,” says Auger, who sleeps near the Waterfront on the nights he cannot get into the center. “Here, they treat everyone equally—no buddies or special favors.”

Earlier this month, Governor Deval Patrick announced $1 billion in budget cuts to quell the city’s struggling economy, an economic move that may inhibit the homeless such as Auger from staying at the center.

Emergency assistance for the homeless, which was allotted $87 million in the fiscal 2009 budget (up $1.6 million from fiscal 2008), will see its budget sliced by $1 million. The average cost to house a person at a shelter is $99.

“During the winter, we usually increase capacity to about 70 people,” Lee says. “There are going to be cuts. We may have to turn more people away.”

Lee says even if they reach capacity, the shelter never turns away women.

Michael Bizzell, 43, who mops floors at the Center Club, the shelter’s daytime counterpart, and sleeps at 31 Bowker at night, says he worries how the cuts may affect his home and workplace.

“Budget cuts—man, I don’t know about those cuts,” he says. “But we’ll get through though. All of us together.”