PORTSMOUTH – Police and advocates have seen an increase in the city’s homeless population, leading to complaints from residents about people sleeping on park benches and in bank vestibules.
Resident Sarah Lynch emailed the City Council as a “concerned citizen about the influx of unhoused people sleeping in sleeping bags on our park benches, hanging out at PMS (Portsmouth Middle School), the library and Leary Field, and sleeping in vans next to Leary Field and the lawn .”
“I walk around Portsmouth every morning and the increase in the number of unhoused people sleeping on the sidewalks or in ATMs is astonishing,” she said. “It is especially concerning given the proximity to our schools, library, playgrounds and playing fields.”
Lynch added that she recently “witnessed a man urinating in front of Market Basket on Lafayette.”
Lynch stated that she previously lived in San Francisco “and I have seen firsthand how a large, unhoused population can negatively impact a community.”
“I recognize that this is a very complex and sensitive issue, and I fully support organizations like Cross Roads (House) to help those in need,” she said. “I just don’t believe that people sleeping on the streets are safe for anyone.”
Portsmouth Police confirm the growing homeless population
Portsmouth Deputy Police Chief Michael Maloney stated, “We have certainly seen an increase in the homeless population in Portsmouth.
“We are a growing, busy, small town,” Maloney said. “That gives you everything that comes with it.”
Maloney said he read the email Lynch sent and stated that her observations “were not inaccurate. …There are more homeless people in Portsmouth lately than in the past. I will say we have seen an increase in calls about this.”
That includes calls from businesses that open in the morning to “find someone sleeping in a vestibule,” he said.
“More often than not,” Maloney said, police “will get calls from regular citizens” who might complain if they see “a homeless person sitting on a bench downtown.”
“They think it’s ugly,” Maloney said, but emphasized that person has “just as much right to be on the bench” as anyone else.
When police see things like people sleeping on benches or camping in violation of city ordinances, “we address it,” Maloney said.
He noted that Police Chief Mark Newport had also been “made aware” of the email.
There is no way to know what Portsmouth’s homeless population is, Maloney said, but it is “certainly not” just a Portsmouth issue.
What is causing the increase in the number of unhoused people?
“It’s a national issue,” Maloney said. “We’re simply starting to see a little bit more than we have in recent years.”
Outreach facilities like Cross Roads House can bring “people from surrounding communities” who need help to Portsmouth, he said.
Portsmouth Mayor Deaglan McEachern stated that the city police will “continue to enforce the laws that we have,” when asked about Lynch’s concerns.
He pointed to Cross Roads House as a facility where homeless people can go in Portsmouth.
Police are also committed to “providing assistance where they can,” McEachern said Thursday.
“Compared to other cities, Portsmouth is doing a reasonable job addressing this problem,” the mayor said of the homeless problem.
McEachern stated, “The deputy chief is 100 percent right: If someone breaks the law, we enforce it.”
Being homeless is not a crime
But McEachern emphasized that “being someone who doesn’t have a home is not against the law.”
He stated that “a homeless person has the right to sit on a bench” or “hang around in the market square like anyone else.”
He promised that police “will remain vigilant in enforcing the laws so that it does not become a bigger problem.”
And McEachern called police “doing a fantastic job of getting to know the people on the street and directing them to the resources they need.”
Cross Roads House has a waiting list
Will Arvelo is the executive director of Cross Roads House in Portsmouth.
He has seen the homeless population on and around the Seacoast – and throughout New Hampshire – increase in recent years as home prices continue to rise.
“We have more women who are homeless, more elderly people who are homeless, more families who are homeless,” Arvelo said.
The Portsmouth shelter normally houses about 100 people per night, he said, “including men, women and children.”
Cross Roads has several waiting lists of on average thirty to forty people, “and they never go away,” says Arvelo.
“Someone can’t just walk in off the street and find a bed here,” he said.
It typically takes a week or two for a bed to open, “sometimes longer,” Arvelo said.
The waiting list may grow as they sometimes struggle to find more permanent housing for someone staying at the shelter, he said.
“There are not enough shelter beds to accommodate the number of homeless people in the state,” Arvelo said Thursday.
Asked if he was surprised to hear that people were sleeping on park benches or in banking halls in Portsmouth, he said: “I’m not surprised at all.”
“Seeing more homeless people on the streets is what happens when local shelters don’t have enough beds,” Arvelo said.
“From a policy perspective, municipalities and the state need to support more accessible shelter beds like ours,” he said. “That way we can house more people and move them from temporary housing to permanent housing over time.”
He explained that accessible shelter allows people to stay there, even if they are drug users or alcoholics, as long as they do not use the shelter.
“We are an essential service for municipalities, especially Portsmouth,” Arvelo said. ‘Imagine if we weren’t here on the Seacoast. Where would all those individuals be? They would be on the street.”
He asked people to advocate for towns and cities to support places like Cross Roads House.
People who want to help Cross Roads House can donate to the shelter or volunteer, he said.
“Seventy percent of our budget comes from individual donors,” Arvelo said.
Visit crossroadshouse.org to do both.
Arvelo emphasized the importance of creating affordable housing in local communities.
“Without that, we really don’t have healthy communities,” he said. “You can’t have communities of just wealthy people, you need people who are filling the jobs on Main Street and who can afford to live in our communities.”
“Places like Portsmouth have priced people out, and that’s a real tragedy,” he added.
Everyone interviewed for this story encouraged people to contact their local welfare agency for help if they are homeless, amid fears they could become homeless.
How Portsmouth’s Welfare Office can help
Jodi Carnes, Portsmouth’s director of well-being, has seen an increase in her department’s requests for help since COVID relief ended.
Portsmouth’s welfare office is providing “emergency assistance,” Carnes said.
That includes things like “emergency shelter, rent, first month’s rent, security deposit and disconnection of demand for gas and electricity bills,” Carnes said Friday.
The office even helps with funeral and cremation costs, although that is limited to $1,000, she said.
“We are seeing an increase in that,” Carnes said.
According to Carnes, the welfare department’s costs increased by $25,000 between fiscal year 2023 and fiscal year 2024.
“We spent $200,000 in Portsmouth alone last fiscal year,” she said.
Her budget for this fiscal year, which began July 1, is $259,600.
“We have already seen an increase in the number of people needing help with rental costs between July this year and September,” Carnes said.
The department has also spent $5,500 on emergency shelters so far this year, she said.
“Yesterday a gentleman needed shelter and Cross Roads was full, and we took him to a shelter in Nashua, but he chose not to go,” Carnes said.
Providing emergency shelter could mean putting someone in a motel, Carnes said.
It could be for a short stay or “I could have someone stay in a hotel for six months to a year,” she said.
She blames “largely just inflation” as more people need help from the Department of Welfare.
That includes the cost of “everyday goods,” along with high housing costs and little availability, Carnes said.
“When you start looking for an apartment, even if you have the money, it’s hard to find,” she said.
The number of calls for help the department receives varies from day to day.
“It’s busier at the end of the month when rent is due, and they don’t have rent that month,” she said.
Carnes had two clients scheduled on Friday, while she had six and three walk-ins on Thursday.
“And it’s only the middle of the month,” she said.
Despite the challenges, Carnes said that “we are very fortunate here in Portsmouth,” and pointed to the city’s “very generous population.”
“It’s a very giving community and we have so many great nonprofits,” she said.
People needing assistance can call the Portsmouth Welfare Department at 603-610-7267.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Growing visibility of unhoused people in Portsmouth raises concerns
