Representatives on the state, city, and regional level gathered at the Church Street headquarters of Louison House for the funding announcement. State Senator Adam Hinds of the Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden District said the group effort emerged from a grim ultimatum from the housing community.
“North Adams doesn't have the money to cover emergency shelter during the winter, and cold is coming," said the senator. "This was happening in November. And when we realized there was a shortfall, the question was, OK, how do we identify the funds, and who do we kind of get on board for this?”
For his part, Hinds – also a Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor – added a provision to the state’s American Rescue Plan Act spending bill.
“I filed an amendment for $75,000 with the understanding that we would also have, it would be locking elbows with regional municipalities to make sure that we covered that gap,” Hinds explained.
One of those municipalities was North Adams itself.
“I'm pleased to announce, as a spinoff from the [former Mayor Tom] Bernard administration, that the city will be using $50,000 in ARPA funds to support the efforts of the Louison House for emergency shelter,” said Mayor Jennifer Macksey.
The final piece of the $135,000 puzzle came from neighboring Williamstown, just west of North Adams on Route 2.
“As a Williamstown resident, I'm proud to say that the select board agreed to put $10,000 towards our requests for local support to help with winter beds,” said Louison House board member Michael Goodwin.
Louison House Executive Director Kathy Keeser says all of the money will go toward winter hotel rentals for the unhoused.
“Not in North Adams because there is not an affordable hotel in North Adams, but in local, outlying communities," she said. "Our setup for our first motel, for 15 beds, we thought would be enough for the season. We filled that by, I think it was December 20- Well, we had a waiting list right away, going, Oh my god, we've got to find these people because we knew people from people who were around and needed places. But by the 25th, I think, of December we had those beds filled.”
Keeser said the nonprofit is spending around $30,000 a month on the winter hotel project on top of its other efforts in the community.
Louison House, established in 1990, works to assist and find long-term solutions for the unhoused in Northern Berkshire County. Its annual budget is around $850,000, with about a quarter going directly to just the winter hotel project.
“The housing situation is really, really hard," said Keeser. "Even when we have somebody with a voucher, our folks who don't have the best credit history, or the best income, or just lousy housing history, or no housing history, get to the back of the list with the landlords. So we have to work, we work really hard with landlords to try to make them succeed when they get into housing. But youth with no credit, people who've been through struggles are going to be there.”
Part of the Louison House mission is to provide services judgement free, regardless of conditions like substance misuse disorder.
“We don't hide that," said Keeser. "That is part of what is with the people we have there. And I- Sometimes we get comments from people saying as if they're not deserving because they happen to be addicts of alcohol or other substances. They still deserve housing. And yes, we work with them to make sure they can succeed in their housing. And that's our goal, is to get them housing that they succeed in.”
Annually, it offers support to many as 500 people in Northern Berkshire County.
“People came from many situations: Tents, garages, things like that," said Keeser. "A lot of come from immediate evictions that have happened. We have a lady we put up because her pipes froze in her trailer, so she went in yesterday to the motel room. They're living with somebody else, living with them a couple years, that person's tenancy is in trouble because they're living with them. Other people, just, there's a health issue for their apartment, the landlord didn't do things that needed or they didn't do things.”
While the windfall for winter shelter will help the nonprofit make it through the season, Keeser made it clear that its efforts to further ameliorate the region’s housing crisis are far from over.
“Louison House is funneling through this money that's going to help for now," she said. "But we’ve got to worry about the rest of the year and the rest of the time and finding housing for the people.”
