House of Hope recognized the urgency of this crisis and brought a solution to the table in 2019. Various locations were attempted, and finally, one was chosen. Years after conception, the pallet shelters were delivered and assembled in Ward 4, and March 2024 was set for the opening. The Department of Housing, the General Assembly, and the Fire Marshal’s Office had years to anticipate regulatory challenges, and yet here we are.
New open dates came and went, and still nothing. Bureaucratic red tape has stood in the way of saving lives, and the public has been left to wonder: are we really doing everything we can to help the people who need it most?
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Homelessness is a complicated issue. At its root are our greatest struggles: stagnating wages, soaring housing costs, the opioid epidemic, our failing education system, domestic violence, the mistreatment of veterans, racism, and white supremacy. Long-term solutions that cut to the core may be decades away, but the short-term doesn’t have to go this way. The immediate way to get people off the streets is to put them in beds.
We need to stop ranking one life over another. Government officials need to imagine it is our family members who are freezing on the streets while beds sit empty just blocks away, and act with the urgency that demands.
Providence City Council can serve as a model for this. Last month, the council approved a new Comprehensive Plan, the 10-year road map that guides land use. Under the leadership of Councilor Miguel Sanchez, we included language that ensures the city institutes humane, housing-first solutions, including temporary permits for emergency shelters, improved services to encampments, increased mental health and substance use treatment, and the development of permanent housing. The Comprehensive Plan commits the city to a new direction on homelessness: one that keeps compassion and public health at its center.
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Last week, Governor McKee doubled down, saying he’s unwilling to challenge remaining obstacles because “the safety factor is the top priority.”
Is it safe to look the other way as people live in freezing temperatures? Is it safe to leave families with no options as shelter waitlists grow longer and longer? Is safety really being prioritized as the governor stands idly by while 54 unhoused residents lose their lives in a single year?
The ECHO Village delays clearly represent the state’s failure to recognize the housing crisis for what it is: an emergency.
Rents have skyrocketed across the state, and the pain is felt viscerally here in Providence. Too many families are teetering on the edge of homelessness, and for many, that edge has already given way. Housing is a basic human right. And it’s long past time we treated it as such.
Governor McKee can end all of this right now, pulling people off the streets and putting them in beds, with a single stroke of his pen. He can declare a state of emergency to cut through the red tape and open ECHO Village immediately via executive order. It is the moral solution. People in Providence are suffering, and they can’t wait any longer.
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Every day of further delay is a choice — and the cost of that choice is lives. Governor McKee, it’s time to act. Not next year. Not next month. Not tomorrow. Today. You hold the pen. Use it. The people of Rhode Island are watching.
City Councilor Justin Roias represents the North End of Providence, and works as a school social worker and licensed mental health counselor. Roias is a member of the Providence Housing Authority.