Wilma Smith of Pawtucket talks about past her struggles with homelessness on Nov. 19, 2024. Smith told her story as part of the State of Homelessness presentation
by the Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness. (Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
Wilma Smith of Pawtucket stood before a crowd of nearly 200 people at CIC Providence this week and told her story.
She talked about aging out of foster care at 18 with a baby to care for. She explained how they went from shelter to shelter until one day she finally was able to get an apartment in Massachusetts. Things were better for a while, she told the crowd, until the building was sold and the family was back on the street.
“When you encounter a person who is homeless, don’t look at them as a problem to deal with rather than a person you can help,” she told the crowd. “No one asked to be put in the position of being homeless and we need to stop the blame game.”
Smith, now a grandmother who has since moved into permanent housing, told her story as part of the Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness third annual State of Homelessness presentation on Tuesday.
Kimberly Simmons, the coalition’s executive director, presented data from the organization’s 2024 Point in Time Count initially released in late June. At least 2,442 unhoused people across Rhode Island were counted when coalition volunteers conducted the annual survey for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024 — representing a 35% increase from 2023’s count.
The Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness plans to conduct its next count Jan. 28, 2025.
The main reason for the increase in the number of homeless people according to the coalition: wages have not kept pace with rising rents.
A person making the state minimum wage of $14 an hour would have to work 78 hours per week to afford a fair market one-bedroom apartment, according to the 2024 HousingWorks RI Fact Book.
There also isn’t enough shelter space. The state has added 600 shelter beds to its emergency response system since 2023, but only an average of seven spots are open on any given day, according to the coalition
“Shelters are overcrowded, advocates are overwhelmed,” Smith said. “One person unsheltered is too many.”
The state has sought to bolster its emergency shelter system, including constructing 45 one-room cabins within the on-ramp to Route 146 South in Providence this spring. The $3.3 million project was supposed to open in late March, but has faced multiple delays due to confusion over how the state building and fire codes applied to the pallet shelter community, along with supply chain snarls.
ECHO village is now scheduled to open some time this winter, said Emily Marshall, a spokesperson for the state housing department.
Simmons also highlighted other statewide efforts such as the $120 million state housing bond approved by voters on Nov. 5. The borrowing plan covers six housing initiatives, including construction and renovation.
In addition, a law passed in June doubles the length of time when landlords must notify tenants of rent hikes.
But there is still much more work to be done, Simmons said.
“We cannot do this in little fiefdoms anymore,” she said. “We have silos of people, some of which are crossing over and doing the same kind of business, same kind of work — we should be putting all of our strengths together.”
Rep. David Morales, a Providence Democrat who was at the event, said more clarity in the state’s building code would allow pallet shelter communities to be built across Rhode Island.
Morales also called for more affordable homes to be constructed and for the state to prohibit the police from clearing out homeless encampments. Raids can be a harrowing experience, Providence-based advocacy journalist Steve Ahlquist, who emceed the presentation, told the crowd.
“It’s like having a fire,” he said. “But this is worse.”
West Warwick’s Town Council on Tuesday voted 3-2 to approve an ordinance to eliminate all encampments in the town by Dec. 2, despite outcry from the little over half-dozen service providers and unhoused residents who spoke before the panel that evening.
But Providence, which saw police close down two encampments this spring, could soon end the practice. City Councilors on Thursday are scheduled to introduce an ordinance that would prohibit fines for camping on public property.
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