On Monday, Nov. 18, the Somerville Department of Health and Human Services held a community meeting about the opening of a new winter warming center in the Cummings School building once renovations are finished.
For the past two years, Somerville has operated a winter warming center in Somerville’s Arts at the Armory building to protect adults experiencing homelessness from extreme temperatures.
Karin Carroll, Somerville’s director of health and human services, explained that the council decided to relocate the center due to challenges with operating the shelter in a multipurpose building.
The warming center is scheduled to open on Dec. 8. It will run through early April — operating from 5 p.m. until 8 a.m. the next morning — and have a capacity of 20–25 people per night.
Carroll mentioned that the warming center will operate as a low-barrier entry shelter and said that the city has not officially decided to convert the Cummings School into a full-time shelter.
Hannah O’Halloran, the director of homeless services at the Somerville Homeless Coalition, discussed how the warming center helps unhoused residents.
“I’ll never forget the impact that it had on my clients’ lives,” O’Halloran said. “If they stayed outside that night, they more than likely would have passed away.”
She added that the warming center makes unhoused residents feel supported, helping them get their lives back on track.
“From my experience, the more you show them that they care, the more they’re invested in their own life … and those negative behaviors that a lot of us see tend to go down,” O’Halloran said.
Deputy Police Chief James Donovan followed O’Halloran’s statements by explaining the police department’s plans to address the security concerns about the warming center. The department plans to have direct 24 hour patrols around the warming center, and increased police presence through ‘park walks and talks’ around the Cummings School.
Donavan acknowledged that the warming center impacted the community around the Armory. He noted that after the warming center opened at the Armory, police calls increased by 4.3% in the 0.3 mile radius around the armory. However, he clarified that this only amounted to ten additional calls.
“I would say from a police perspective, we did not see a spike in calls for police services around the Armory more than the general increase in crime for ward five and other boards,” Donovan said.
Bill Fisher, director of the city’s Office of Emergency Management, also detailed plans for both external and internal security to make sure transitions are smooth and everyone is as comfortable as possible.
After presentations, the meeting was opened to questions and while most residents supported having a warming center in Somerville, many raised concerns about its location in a residential neighborhood.
One resident read a passage from a letter written by the Arts at the Armory association, explaining their concerns with last year’s warming center.
“There was human excrement inside and outside the building, as well as drug paraphernalia, needles, lots of nips containers, cigarette butts, garbage, used personal items. … The warming center staff did not take responsibility for the warming center outside of its walls, and neither did the City of Somerville,” the resident read aloud. “Clients got into fights, smoked, drank and damaged grounds; once security was in place, it was ineffective.”
Carrol responded to these concerns, mentioning that there would be new measures in place this season, citing cigarette dispensers as an example. She explained that concerns about loitering last year stemmed from the center’s 7 p.m. opening time, which caused people to gather around the building earlier due to the cold.
Residents questioned if there would be an increase in problematic behavior on the streets surrounding the Cummings School after 8 a.m. and before 5 p.m.
“I’m hearing that there’ll be 20 to 25 people that will be pushed out of the door on my street each morning,” another resident said. “It’s a very quiet residential neighborhood, it is not Davis Square.”
O’Halloran explained that visitors don’t tend to hang around residential neighborhoods for long.
“There’s nowhere for them to hang out in a residential neighborhood and seek shelter during the cold hours of the day,” O’Halloran said. The city will also be operating a van to transport residents to and from the center every morning and night.
Many residents expressed feeling ignored by the city’s decision to place the warming center in the Cummings School.
“The initial letter was under the guise of renovations to the community, and then you snuck in at the bottom that we’re building a shelter,” one speaker said.
“I don’t think anyone here is disputing the fact that we need a warming center,” another resident said. “What I am seeing these last several years is that the city is unilaterally making decisions without involving the community.”
