With May starting, the weather improving and flowers starting to bloom, it is possible to feel some hope about the end of the coronavirus pandemic. We are proud of the way many organizations and individuals in Lynn have stepped up to respond to this crisis.
Between the community coming together to help one another and our nonprofit leadership and the business community taking bold action to respond, we seem to be turning the corner. Our schools developed distance learning programs and distributed thousands of meals to students. Our community health center created specialized centers for testing while separating other health care operations from Covid-related visits, testing thousands of Lynn residents while continuing to provide ongoing care for the 40,000 patients already cared for by Lynn Community Health Center.
Homeless patients in need of a location for quarantine are able to utilize a regional site established in Salem. Food providers including My Brother’s Table and the Salvation Army re-configured their operations and found ways to provide food for thousands of Lynners. These have been essential services as Lynn has emerged as a “hot-spot,” with the sobering report that we have the fourth- highest rate of Covid-19 infections and the third-highest number of infections of any community in the state.
We are pleased with the way many in our community have responded, but as we adapt to this new normal, we are taking stock and considering how to strengthen our institutions and community so that we can continue to respond adequately to this health crisis, and emerge better positioned for any future emergencies, whether they be health care, weather events or any other type of unforeseen crisis. One place to start is with Housing.
A central factor in Lynn’s vulnerability has been that many Lynners lack safe and affordable housing. Our housing insecurity comes in a number of forms. Housing is not affordable for many of our residents, leading to families doubling and tripling up in apartments in order to afford the rent.
Prior to coronavirus, Lynn’s housing market was already tight and expensive. Half of Lynn’s renters are paying more than 30 percent of their income for rent and over 25 percent of our renters pay more than 50 percent of their income for rent, making them severely rent burdened. There are thousands of people on Lynn Housing Authority’s waiting lists.
Moreover, many in our community have no home at all. The 2019 Homeless Point in Time Count for Lynn showed more than 1,000 homeless persons in over 350 families were homeless. This count only represents those officially identified by agencies and represents a fraction of the number who lack housing.
A recent survey of Lynn residents revealed that 49 percent reported that housing was an expense burden and 29 percent reported going hungry in the prior month because they didn’t have enough money for food. These conditions make the Coronavirus more devastating than it should be, endangering everyone in the community. During this crisis, many have lost some or all of their income, putting safe housing further out of reach.
But the good news is that this is a problem that we can help to mitigate. Lynn is receiving almost $1.5 million in Community Development Block Grants and over $750,000 in Emergency Shelter Grants in additional federal assistance under the CARES Act. These funds must be directed to address the short term housing emergency by stabilizing housing situations that are at risk, while substantially expanding our affordable housing stock so that all Lynners have safe and affordable housing, and we are better positioned to confront challenges in the future.
Our response in Lynn is also showing the power of our local network. United Way, the City and a coalition of nonprofits, including Northeast Legal Aid, Catholic Charities, Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, Lynn Housing Authority and Neighborhood Development, LEO, and New American Center, have come together quickly to launch the Lynn Community Care fund to raise relief funds for Lynn residents most impacted by the virus, with 100 percent of proceeds going to Lynn residents to assist with paying rent and providing food. To date, this effort has provided more than $250,000 in assistance for food and rental arrears and is continuing to help more weekly.
One example of a family assisted by the Lynn Community Care Fund illustrates just how critical affordable housing is at this moment. A mom of one young child reported to us she was renting a room for $500 per month, but she was unable to continue paying the rent as she could not work and care for her young child at the same time. It is striking to note that the cost to rent a single room here in Lynn is $500 per month — for someone making minimum wage, that room would cost easily a third of their income, even before the pandemic. The fund was able to help cover the gap for this family for a month, but much more will be needed.
Another person assisted shows how overcrowding and the lack of affordable units has been problematic in the wake of a pandemic. The fund recently assisted a man who was positive with the virus and very ill, but not in need of hospitalization. He currently rents a room from another family, but did not want to stay with family and risk getting them sick as well. The Lynn Community Care Fund was able to connect him with resources via the Lynn Task Force and the Isolation and Recovery Sites for COVID-19 Positive Individuals Experiencing Homelessness, ultimately getting him settled into that location. Yet, this illustrates how critical having an affordable home of your own can be, and how inaccessible it is for many in Lynn.
The pandemic has affected everyone in Lynn, but it has not affected all of us equally, and we are not all equally vulnerable. The hardest hit people include seniors, people with disabilities, communities of color, immigrants, people who lack affordable housing, and the lowest income among us. With a quarter of the Massachusetts workforce unemployed, thousands are left unable to pay for rent or mortgages, while the call for social distancing has made many living arrangements untenable. We should not have been willing to accept this reality prior to COVID-19 and we cannot accept it going forward.
Let’s find a way to emerge from this pandemic with a stronger commitment to affordable housing here in Lynn. Here are a few things we can do:
- Ensure that federal assistance via Community Development Block Grants and Emergency Shelter/Solution Grant funds are allocated both to our most critical immediate needs without losing sight of our long-term affordable housing needs
- Demand strong affordable housing goals as a part of the ongoing Housing Lynn planning process being conducted by the Massachusetts Area Planning Council.
- Call on our elected officials to prioritize safe and affordable housing for all of Lynn’s residents
At this moment when we are all acutely aware that having a safe and affordable roof over our head is so crucial to our physical and mental well-being, both as individuals and as a community, we hope you will join us in ensuring that affordable housing is a key priority for Lynn in the future.
The Lynn Housing Coalition includes a diverse group of individuals and organizations, including the Massachusetts Senior Action Council; The United Way; LEO (Leading Through Empowering Opportunities); Northeast Justice Center; My Brother’s Table; The New Lynn Coalition; Beyond Walls; 1199SEIU United HealthCare Workers East; Lynn Health Task Force; Alex Cuevas, realtor and property manager; Carolina Trujillo and Lorraine Medrano, Lynn residents.