HOLYOKE — Twice facing the trauma of eviction and once making a vehicle home for herself and her four children, as well as living inside a mold-filled apartment, Shaundell Diaz of Springfield brings firsthand knowledge of homelessness.
Now the coordinator of the Three County Continuum of Care in Greenfield, a program that assists unhoused people in Hampshire, Franklin and Berkshire counties, Diaz is calling on state leaders to strengthen Rental Assistance for Families in Transition and the first-time homebuyers program, as well as provide legal assistance to those facing eviction and displacement.
“State investment is needed in programs that work and to make them work even better,” Diaz said. “We can do better. We must do better.”
Yet at a Western Massachusetts Network to End Homelessness regional gathering, “Housing Justice Happens Here,” Friday morning at the Kittredge Center at Holyoke Community College, the seventh such gathering, advocates for getting everybody housed acknowledged they are facing significant challenges coming out of the pandemic, with resources diminished and the number of people experiencing homelessness rising to a five-year high.
