Homelessness or near-homelessness here in Lincoln? It’s happening more and more often, so a new initiative will provide temporary housing and other help for families at risk.
The Staying at Home in Lincoln project will allow Lincoln residents who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless to stay in temporary emergency housing while social services staff from the town work to arrange permanent housing, as well as any services and benefits required to ensure that the resident will be successful in their new home. This temporary housing could include area hotels or motels, assisted living facilities, or other supportive housing.
The Commons in Lincoln will provide funding for the project, and the Council on Aging and The Commons will work together to craft the program model.
As a retirement community, The Commons has close ties with the COA and its programs, but the connection goes deeper. “We’re part of the Lincoln community, and the Staying at Home project will help us stay engaged with Lincoln and also help address a community need that goes to the heart of helping our neighbors,” said Reynaldo LeBlanc, campus executive director at The Commons. “The project is an opportunity to help residents in the community of all ages, and when [COA Director Carolyn Bottum] reached out to see if we were interested, it was a no-brainer.”
In the past, the COA and the St. Vincent de Paul Society have offered rental assistance to residents at risk of eviction because of inability to pay rent due to some extraordinary circumstance. However, the town organizations has recently seen an increase in residents who are homeless or close to it for other reasons including domestic violence and elder abuse, mental illness or physical disabilities, natural disaster, and legal issues. In the last five years, the COA has dealt with 10 situations of homelessness or near-homelessness in Lincoln (one each in 2014 and 2015, two in 2017 and six in 2018).
“We think that this is probably the tip of the iceberg — there are likely other residents who simply never asked for help and so we weren’t aware of their situations. Because we’re the COA and seniors may be more likely to come to us, there may be more younger people we’ve missed,” Bottum said.
Eight of the 10 cases are seniors, one is a single mother, and one is a family with two parents (both with school-age children). In both family cases, both parents are working but don’t make enough money to take care of emergencies that arise or keep up with rent while waiting for subsidized housing.
What’s become of those 10 cases since 2014? One passed away while waiting for subsidized housing’ three were able to find subsidized or other appropriate housing in Lincoln after waits of some months, five moved out of town, and one continues to be at risk of eviction until subsidized housing opens up.
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