Beating the Drum to end unsheltered homelessness in Rhode Island

Advocates demand that Governor McKee declare a State of Emergency and municipal leaders stop police raids of encampments until the current crisis of unsheltered homelessness is addressed.

Individuals with lived experience of homelessness and their allies beat a drum outside the State House on Wednesday to demand an end to unsheltered homelessness in Rhode Island. In a statement, organizers with the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project (RIHAP) and Mathewson Street United Methodist Church write:

“At the end of September of this year, Rhode Island had 1,260 unhoused people in emergency shelters and 625 living outside without shelter, for 1,885 people, a near doubling of homelessness and an increase of 880 percent in unsheltered homelessness since 2019.

“Hundreds of evictions every month have fueled these increases. According to the Rhode Island Housing dashboard, 6,929 households were evicted in the State in 2024, overwhelmingly due to the tenant’s inability to pay skyrocketing rents. If individuals and families lack family or friends to stay with, they wind up on the street. Then, instead of meeting the needs of those living outside, municipalities and police in the State continually harass people experiencing homelessness and raid their homeless encampments.

“Efforts by the Department of Housing to add emergency shelter beds and permanent housing for those living outside have been met with regulatory, zoning, and Not In My BackYard (NIMBY) barriers. The Pallet emergency shelter ECHO Village, with 45 individual shelters, has been fully built since April of this year but is unoccupied due to State regulatory delays. This is unacceptable and could have been avoided if a state of emergency had been declared.

“Therefore, the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project and our allies, including Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere (HOPE), the Rhode Island Poor People’s Campaign, Better Lives Rhode Island (BLRI), and the Mathewson Church Housing Justice Committee, call on Governor Daniel McKee and municipal leaders to:

• Declare a State of Emergency so we treat this human crisis with the urgency it deserves.

• Add additional shelter beds with paths to permanent housing now to provide a roof over the head of every Rhode Islander.

• Providence Mayor Brett Smiley and other municipal leaders - Stop police raids of encampments until residents have acceptable shelter or housing alternatives.

Eric Hirsch, Director of the Rhode Island Publicist Advocacy Project: We’re here in front of the State House to demand that Governor McKee declare a state of emergency due to the over 600 people in our state currently living outside. We’ve been demanding this since September 2021, when we were in the same location. We had tents set up to show that there were people living outside—hundreds, even back then.

We need this to happen because it’s difficult for people to add shelter beds and build permanent housing. Many people don’t want to see this in their backyards. Many people don’t understand the suffering happening in terms of the people living outside. It just got really cold. It was in the twenties last night. - life-threatening. People die during all seasons of the year, but the winter is, in particular, a time when people are most vulnerable. We just had a Homeless Memorial Day a few weeks ago, and 54 people died last year while homeless in our State.

We don’t understand why there isn’t more of a sense of urgency, or an ability to understand that we should remove all barriers to getting a roof over people’s heads. We built Pallet Shelters -Echo Village. Those shelters have been sitting empty since April. And why is that? It’s because of regulatory processes, as the building commissioner and the fire marshal have taken months and months before they were willing to allow people to be in these shelters and have heat, air conditioning, and locks. There’s one shelter for each person. Forty-five people should be in those right now. A state of emergency would allow the government to cut through the regulatory processes and not respect the NIMBYism that’s going on and get people in those shelters right now. So, Governor McKee, we will beat the drum here to wake you up to the need for a state of emergency over unsheltered homelessness in Rhode Island.

Terri Wright: Be excited about something that does not exist and is not a replica of something that has already existed and failed, like this current housing crisis. Focus on Rhode Island and not on what did not work in other cities and states. This has nothing to do with numbers. This has to do with people - our homeless and unsheltered communities.

This is a state of emergency for anyone forced to live outdoors 24/7. How will our communities heal without Porta Potties, hand washing stations, housing, makeshift tents, compassion, and help? How do you expect our communities to be okay? Our neighbors are not okay.

Homeowners are frustrated, and I understand. Communities sit divided, and the unsheltered are left outside and voiceless.

This is a state of emergency. Health and safety are at risk, 24/7. Housing is harm reduction. Housing is a human right. How do you lose a right to an eviction, house fire, not making a livable wage (which does not exist yet), or when someone passes away and the family is displaced and left homeless?

Homelessness is a problem in the State of Rhode Island, as is rent. The rent is too damn high. Excuse my language. Years of housing neglect and unfortunate circumstances put us here.

Don’t get mad at homelessness. Don’t get mad at homeless people. Lean hard on the City and State to provide a more serene balance. Housing, not handcuffs. Housing, not death, amputations, and drug use. People are forced into an inhumane way of life, stripped of everyday living essentials like heat, hot water, food, healthcare, and mental health care. I was born and raised here in Rhode Island, and maybe four years ago, I noticed that our streets had changed. Society was beginning to change because of neglect - neglect of someone who needs a hand up. We’re not asking for a handout, but housing is a human right that falls on the Governor’s shoulders.

In turn, I want to say it’s easier to follow a flawed system that doesn’t enact equality in its practices.

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Kevin Simon, Director of Outreach and Communications at Mathewson Street Church: Last year, 53 of our friends died while sleeping outside. That is more than double the amount of the previous year. The number of people who passed away from being outside should be zero because everyone in the State of Rhode Island should have a place to rest their heads at night. The weather is turning. It was below-freezing last night. We don’t need shelter and housing tomorrow. We need it right now, today. Governor McKee, we are demanding that you provide shelter spaces so that not a single person in our community dies while living outside this winter, next year, or forever moving forward.

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Rachel: I live in Crossroads. It’s really bad in Crossroads. I’m given bad food, and mice are in there. They have a lot of mold. I’ve been living on the street since July 31st, but I’ve been going back and forth to shelters. I wish Governor McKee would give houses to the homeless. I hope so. I don’t want people to die on the street. I don’t want to see that.

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Brown Student from Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere: We’ve gathered here today because we believe housing is a human right. A close friend at Brown University who studies urban studies recently showed me a graph that shocked me. It showed how unsheltered homelessness has been increasing and is now at a peak of 700+ people living outside. Another graph showed that the number of shelter beds in Rhode Island has slowly decreased, which is absurd. With the number of people living outside increasing, the number of beds should not decrease.

We’re here today to demand that Governor McKee do something about this because a lack of empathy is at the root of this issue. People deserve homes, safe beds, and a place that they can call home, and that’s not the case right now. So, McKee, we ask you, no, we demand that you declare a state of emergency.

Eric Hirsch: One of the most important points about the crisis that we face is that the stigma associated with being homeless means that most people don’t care about them. If someone was burned out of their house or there was a flood or a hurricane, it’s assumed that we will help those people. We’re going to get them into shelter, we’re going to get them into housing.

Once you’re homeless, it’s assumed that it’s your fault, that it’s about your being a criminal, lazy, or some problem you have. But homelessness is really about the failure of the housing market to provide housing for people with low incomes. It’s about the failure of our entire system designed to get homeless people into housing that isn’t working. We’re not getting many people into housing even though we’re spending a lot of money on that homeless service system.

We need the Governor to understand that it’s not the fault of people living outside. Over the last three years, there should have been a sense of urgency and a state of emergency to get a roof over everyone’s head.

So we’re going to beat this drum to wake the Governor and get him to understand that a state of emergency must be declared now as winter is coming.

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Attendee: I’ve been homeless since 2018. I’ve owned two houses in my life. I’ve worked all my life. I am 63 years old, still working, homeless, and nothing is being done. I’ve been to these meetings. I have seven Pallet Houses I’m willing to give away for free, and I told the Mayor about this and have not gotten an answer.

I want an answer because you have property somewhere in this State. I’m willing to give them away for free, but I’m not getting any answers. I have people in this church willing to help put them together for free, but I’m not getting an answer. That’s not acceptable. This is a state of emergency as far as I’m concerned.

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Sister Mary Pendergast, Sisters of Mercy: We’ve been looking for empty, state—or church-owned buildings that might be retrofitted for housing. We need them.

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Eric Hirsch: What is Rhode Island’s policy on dealing with unsheltered homelessness? The main policy is police raids. Just send police, tell people they have to move—sometimes with no notice—and remove their possessions—sometimes throwing them away.

We demand of the municipal and State leaders: No police unless people are offered shelter or permanent housing. That’s what needs to happen. The assumption is always that “those people” will find shelter. Well, the shelters are pretty much full, and a lot of people don’t want to go to large congregate shelters. I don’t think I would, either. Municipal leaders and all people in the State need to understand the importance of this issue and ensure that people get into shelter and housing.

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Kinverly Dicupe; Housing Organizer for Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE): I’m here in support. Our building is off Broad Street. We see a lot of folks who are unhoused. Across the United States right now, we have a record number of folks who are unhoused, and we’re not doing much about it. As folks have said, we don’t have enough shelter beds or temporary housing to put people in. Not only that, but we don’t have a lot of permanent housing that is available. A lot of the permanent housing that we have put our money towards constructing is for people who make 70, 80, or 90 grand a year, which is way above what most people in Rhode Island make. It’s way above what people in the urban core make.

They’re talking about austerity because we have a huge budget shortfall, but we always get the same talking points. We have a budget shortfall because we won’t tax corporations and wealthy individuals. There’s a bunch of super-wealthy individuals moving into Newport right now. Some of them are billionaires. Why aren’t they being taxed? We don’t need to have a budget shortfall. We can take care of this right now if we tax these people. All of these problems are interconnected. We have a housing issue because we have a political issue. We have way too much money going into that State House from real estate developers. That money is coming out of New York. That is where a lot of this money is coming from. We need reform across the board to get the housing development we need.

We need to take care of that political issue. We need to talk about low-income housing. I don’t want to hear the word affordable housing in this State. We need to talk about low-income housing - housing that is at 30% of what a person makes - 30% of their income. We need to be talking about public housing. A lot of our public housing is crumbling. People who live there are living with lead, infestations, and all kinds of issues. On top of that, despite a housing crisis, we are still selling off a lot of our public housing.

We know that the Mayor doesn’t want to do any form of rent stabilization or rent control. We’ve met with him a couple of times, and we get the same talking points. A lot of the issues are State related. Crossroads, or some other nonprofit, is being given lots of money, but they’re not taking care of the issue.

It’s not Crossroad’s issue to take care of. It is the political leaders that we vote for every two to four years. It’s their problem to take care of. Mayor Smiley has already said he doesn’t want to do rent control or rent stabilization for whatever reason, but we know the reason. It’s because he’s deep into the real estate business. We know what his husband does for work. That’s the problem right there.

We should have had rent control yesterday. We used to be a State with rent control—up until the fifties. We need to bring that back. Otherwise, people are just getting kicked out of their homes. They can’t afford a $2,500 rent that doesn’t include utilities.

When I first came to this country, I paid $700 for three-bedroom apartments in Central Falls. All of our utilities were included. You’re telling me that that’s not possible right now. According to many Republicans and Democrats, the economy is doing great. So if it’s doing great, let’s bring back $700 apartments. Let’s bring back $500 apartments. We need rent control now. That’s one of the ways that we can lower some of these rents or at least stop the rental increases. The housing market in Rhode Island is extremely hot, mainly because lots of people feel like, “Hey, all I have to do is move in there, buy a bunch of triple-deckers, put the rent up to 2,500, and boom. That’s a lot of money.”

But we can’t continue with that. We need rent control, the Mayor to declare a state of emergency, and reinvestment in low-income housing, not a building with 20% affordable housing. We need housing for the majority of people who live here who make 30, 40, or 50 grand a year—and also for people who make $12,000 a year.

I grew up with a disabled mother. That’s what my mother made. Where the hell can my mother live in this housing crisis right now? We only have housing today because we live in public housing - something we’re destroying.

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Kendra Anderson: I used to work in the State House. This is a failure of leadership from the top down. Leadership in our State is preventing the legislators who want to make a difference. They are stunted every time they try to pass bills because the leadership, from McKee to the Speaker of the House to the Senate President, don’t let them pass legislation.

We’ve got a real problem with leadership, and I hope to see many people up at the State House this year addressing this. Some of the partners are not here because they fear they will not pass their legislation—that’s how it works. You have to kiss the ring.

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Eric Hirsch: So here’s the problem. Back in 2021, what we were concerned about in RIHAP and the other groups who were here too was that we would institutionalize unsheltered homelessness in Rhode Island, that somehow it would wind up being okay to have 500 or 600 or 700 people living outside, when, before this time, before Covid hit, we had maybe 70 people outside or 50 people outside.

This is what has happened. We’ve institutionalized this, and it’s happened because of the stigma associated with homelessness, because we blame homeless people for being outside. Most people now don’t care. That includes the legislature, the Mayor, and the Governor.

We don’t find this acceptable, and we’re not going to rest until we provide a roof over every person’s head.

We will end by beating the drum to wake up Governor McKee and everyone in Rhode Island—to declare a state of emergency and get people off the street for good.