Clock Ticking For The Homeless In The City Of Lowell

Let me begin by saying I am not a professional in dealing with this issue. My friends and I go down the to the camps and bring them pizza and new socks and clothing 3 times a year and have become friendly with them over the years. It is a humbling experience seeing human beings living in these conditions in the richest country the the world and they are polite and grateful for the merger things that you and I take for granted..

Yesterday I caught wind that the homeless residents were served notice that they had 7 days to vacate their campsites with services that were available to them pinned to their dwellings. This all came about with  motion brought forward by Councilor Marty Lorrey asking the  City in cooperation with state and federal agencies  to find housing and help with medical needs they may have.

I applaud the Councilor for bring this motion forward, but a 7 day vacate notice in my opinion is not enough.
This past Monday all the agencies that deal with Homelessness met at City Hall  and agreed on this plan and fanned out across the city to solve this problem in one week....are you kidding me?

I went before the City Council and spoke on behalf  of the Homeless that they need outreach on a one on one basis and that they all had different needs and you can't just  displace them . I understand that they live on UMASS Lowell property and DOT property and city land but this is their home.

Some have substance abuse issues and  mental issues and some just like living outdoors and I also understand that we can't have people just living outside with no sanitation and open fires.  This issue should have been on these agencies radar all along. I know they do good work along with the Christian agencies but this in my opinion is too fast a move for these fragile people.