Shelters Survive With Little Support

Another community project aimed at helping Cambridge's homeless opened yesterday, as the Central Square Salvation Army unlocked the doors of the city's first day shelter.

Although Cambridge has previously had emergency shelters, all of them are restricted to night activities, closing during the day. The result, says Phyllis L. Simpkins, executive director of Cambridge Community Services--a United Way-funded agency that coordinates various social service projects--has been transients sitting in public libraries or fast food restaurants.

In addition to providing the homeless a place to stay from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and a hot lunch, the Salvation Army Drop-In Center demonstrates the general circumstances of work on the problem of homelessness in Cambridge--collaborative efforts by community or church groups, with less tangible support from municipal and state government.

"Generally, the city is very sympathetic but just very cautious," explains Michael Grantzen, a first-year Divinity student involved with the Harvard Square Churches Advisory Group. "The initiative has to be prompted by churches and other groups."

The Present

The Salvation Army center is the latest community response. "We have a sense that there might be a real need" for this type of limited shelter, says Simpkins, citing the heavy turnout at free early-evening meals sponsored by the Salvation Army and the Square churches group.

"We feel that a day time, drop-in center would solve at least some of the problems, if not all the problems," said Salvation Army Capt. Randall I. Davis.

The city's most successful project is a community residence operated by Shelter, Inc., through a joint financing arrangement between the United Way and the state's Department of Public Welfare.

The shelter, located on Story St., provides temporary housing for nine men, six women, and one family. Included in the arrangement are clothing, laundry service, and the help of a full-time social worker.

Shelter has been searching since November for a suitable building for a new operation for which it has obtained funding. The search has been fruitless thus far--made more difficult by Cambridge's zoning ordinance, which limits the number of community residences allowed in any one of the city's 10 neighborhoods.

Shelter representatives told the Cambridge City Council last week that four of the neighborhoods have reached their shelter quota.

The nine city councillors promised their full support to Shelter's efforts, but it is unclear what that support will be. It is unlikely that the council would urge a zoning exemption for the project and allow a new community residence in a closed neighborhood because of the community backlash such a move might cause in an election year. But as one Shelter official said, the organization was happy to have "nine receptive ears [in the council] that can help us."

Another shelter project that has bumped into various city health and zoning laws is a temporary community residence founded by Stewart Guernsey, a first-year Divinity student, in the basement of the University Lutheran Church on Winthrop St.

The community residence opened near four River Houses without the several permits Cambridge requires. City Manager Robert W. Healy decided to postpone any action against Guernsey's project for 60 days--the length of the operation's lease with the church.

The examples of Shelter and Guernsey's temporary residence are indicative of the complicated response given by government to the problem of homelessness. Some money is available, but not enough to fund complete programs. Promises of assistance are made, but the results are less tangible. Often, existing regulations limit the way church and community groups can address the issue.

The Future

But the present absence of definite, sizeable government action to aid the homeless seems to be disappearing. As a Shelter representative told the city councillors, it has recently become "chic" to help transients.

Gov. Michael S. Dukakis made assistance to the homeless one of the principal goals of his administration when he came into office last month. A bill he proposed to send $6 million to social service organizations passed in the State House of Representatives last week and is pending approval in the State Senate, says Kathleen K. Townsend, policy analyst for the state Office of Human Services.

Dukakis also formed an 82-member task force to examine the problem. The advisory group is presently compiling a report which will be sent to the governor's office this week, says Human Service's Chief Policy Analyst Nancy K. Kaufman. Cambridge does not have a representative on the task force.

Any recommendations made in the report will be considered at the task force's next meeting on April 28. "We've been trying to get away from the emergency response because we feel we have the emergency under control," explains Kaufman.

But some activists are uneasy about the scope of state involvement, questioning whether government will move beyond an advisory role. "I am very unclear why we didn't go further with what we were doing at the governor's meeting," says Steven Gary, a task force sub-committee member.

The City

Cambridge's most recent response has been to create a position of emergency service coordinator in the Department of Human Services. The coordinator will help transients who come to the human services office looking for temporary help.

City officials say the post has yet to be filled. But one of the coordinator's first jobs will be to provide a staff for the Salvation Army drop-in center.