Woonsocket - yes Woonsocket - unveils a terrific new Housing and Homelessness Report

The report provides a framework to build an action plan with specific steps toward alleviating homelessness and building more affordable housing.

Woonsocket Mayor Christopher Beauchamp

“The tangle of factors that have put people on the street or in shelters or left them just barely hanging on is the same in Houston and Newark, Chattanooga, Minneapolis, San Diego, and Providence, as it is here,” said Bruce Daigle, who authored Wonsocket’s new Housing and Homelessness Report, during Wednesday’s press conference. “In those communities and others, people have come together and developed strategies that have worked, saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and strengthening their communities. We hope to do the same here.”

The report, which could be a model and replicated by municipalities statewide, takes a holistic view of housing and homelessness in the City of Woonsocket, pulling together both the history of the city’s response over the years and marshaling the latest data on the scope of the problem. The report looks to solutions advanced by other cities across the country, most notably Houston, Texas, which has made enormous strides in reducing the number of people experiencing homelessness. And the report does not shy away from calling out policy failures.

“For far too long, here in our city, the voices of blame and condemnation - among them some of our leaders - have sought to cast these most unfortunate of our brothers and sisters as being responsible for their terrible plight,” continued Daigle. “A few even sought to remove them from our community, sometimes by manipulation, sometimes by force, as if the suffering souls had not yet suffered enough. Others, even among the highest levels of our state government, have deliberately turned their heads away from this growing crisis, excusing inaction with further study or openly doubting the scope and depth of the problem.

Bruce Daigle

“But today there is a new sense of optimism in our ability to resolve this issue. Many in our city and state have come together in a spirit of cooperation and purpose. Mayor Chris Beauchamp has supported our task force and appointed a new human services director, Margaux Morisseau, who has deep experience in housing issues.”

The purpose of the report is to explain what the Woonsocket Community Partnership Task Force on Housing & Homelessness has been doing since it was established by the Woonsocket City Council in 2023. That task force is chaired by City Council Vice President Valerie Gonzalez.

“…[T]his community partnership task force was formed to paint a picture of our social service needs and to work together to find solutions,” said Councilmember Gonzalez. “The city leadership, our public safety department, the Woonsocket Housing Authority, the faith community, local state and social service agencies, and the residents gathered for a round table discussion because it takes all of us at the table to find real solutions…

“I want to go to page nine of the report where it highlights the fourth largest city in the United States, Houston, Texas, which has successfully cut the unsheltered population from 8,500 to 3,200. That is a 60% reduction,” noted Councilmember Gonzalez. “For the city's homeless veterans, the wait for permanent housing was reduced from 720 days to just 32 days… Houston's plan of action has become a model for other cities.”

“The main reason people are homeless is housing and lack of affordable housing. That's the biggest issue that I see here,” said Mayor Beauchamp. “In Woonsocket last year, the median household income was $48,822. Less than half the income needed to purchase an average-priced house in the city. Currently, only 38% of the city residents own their own home. 61% of them are still paying off their mortgage, and the rents have gone out of control too. That's another thing we're going to look at - rent control. Too many corporate landlords drive up the prices because they can, not because they need to and we're going to do better as a city and as a state in controlling the rent so people can afford to stay where they are.”

Mayor Beauchamp is not blind to the quality of life issues surrounding unhoused encampments.

“As the mayor of this city, I don't want my residents or my businesses to have to see some of the stuff that goes on that nobody should see, [like] people defecating and urinating in public. It's not going to be allowed,” said the Mayor. “We are tackling, specifically, the homeless population under the bridges. We've done two or three cleanups already. We've given them garbage bags. We've given them dumpsters and Porta John to say, ‘Listen, if you start helping yourself, we'll be there to help you.’ But I'm not going to do this continuously and be taken advantage of... If people are there to help themselves, we're going to do what we can to help them…

“As [Mayor], I can't just say, ‘Move out, you're out’ and not have a place to put them... We're going to remove people in a dignified way, [and] we're going to find a place - if they want help - to put them. One of the main things we want to do is find a place - a building where we can house the unhoused so they can build up [and] have their own place. That's the key here, right?”

In the next few weeks, the task force will be developing an action plan for City Council approval.

“Providing affordable, secure housing for all those who need it will be a long and difficult task and we have just begun,” said Daigle. “Within a few weeks, we will be proposing an action plan with specific steps to meet these needs, which I'm hopeful will bear much fruit, for I believe that is God's work we are doing and our cooperation in that work will bring graces and blessings we can scarcely imagine. The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. once said, 'The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice.' I hope that this report is received as an invitation to join together in this moral and just work not only for the sake of our brothers and sisters who are most in need but for the health and growth of our community as well.”

You can read the Housing and Homelessness Report here.

Here’s the video of the press conference: