Letter: Many Unanswered Questions Related to Family Homeless Shelter

To the Editor:

As a social worker and professional who attempts to provide greater access to quality mental health care and equitable resource facilitation to underserved families, I have serious concerns about the development of a homeless shelter at [Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts], directly impacting North Adams. I have had reservations about asserting my opinion and how it may appear to others, as this is a difficult position to take in my profession. Regardless, we need to call for some critical community conversations with MCLA prior to the action(s) they propose to fill a vacant building.

Make no mistake, I am not opposed to providing shelter to those in need, nor do I desire to impede upon the success of our local campus (in which I am an alum) or see the lack of enrollment lead to the closure of the college.

I understand that these two complexities exist in North Adams. I encourage creative problem-solving in our community, and I'm reasonably sure Representative Barrett is correct in calling this a catastrophic idea. Dr. Peter May also had a thought-provoking letter to the editor a few weeks back to help our community think critically about this decision, slowly others are doing the same and I applaud the bravery to speak out on such a controversial topic.

No matter your position, MCLA is an institution of higher education, not a homeless shelter.

Bringing 50-plus families in need to an already impoverished and under-resourced community lacks logic.

At the most basic level, do we have resources for these families? Primary-care physicians, space/staffing in our public schools, child care, accessible transportation, and employment opportunities? Digging deeper ... Does this decision truly meet the mission of this academic institution? What do the short and long-term numbers look like for the college, for ServiceNet, most of all for our community? What is ServiceNet's commitment to serving these families? Do they have the qualified staffing to meet those commitments? Is the FRC adequately funded and staffed to assist an influx of these families in the next two months?

What other community members and agencies have been called upon to collaborate and engage in helping make an informed decision on all aspects of the impacts this will have?

Just a month ago, our team at Optimal Healing investigated and found a waitlist of 6 months-plus for new patients at most mental health clinics across the county for outpatient service. At OH, we do our best to resource families if we can't provide immediate intakes, but the truth is outpatient providers are tapped out, let alone any resources for child inpatient care, foster care, respite, substance treatment, the list goes on.

There are several (too many) unanswered questions and a lack of engagement and communication with the community and those businesses and organizations that would be required to support this concept.

Frankly, impacts to the human service industry are only the tip of the iceberg with regard to the intrinsic complexities this plan creates.

At an initial glance, this altruistic endeavor appears to me as though it will best serve an under-enrolled campus and unoccupied building. A well-meaning institutional decision of this magnitude will have grave unintended outcomes on it's already poverty-ridden community, demanding further resources from organizations that are beyond capacity and lacking basic staffing, qualified clinicians, and doctors to help.

I hope in publishing this, I can be proved wrong and the questions above can be adequately answered by MCLA and ServiceNet. Unfortunately, the current articles lack depth of information, and I have not found these answers. If said information has been addressed, it should be posted publicly to quell the angst and concerns of our residents and local businesses.

If we do not know, I'd call upon our community leaders, city councilors and the Board of Trustees to dig deep and provide answers to guide MCLA in directions that support the city and the institution in a mutually beneficial and collaborative way.

Ashley Benson
North Adams, Mass.

Benson is a licensed social worker with Optimal Healing of North Adams. 

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