Even the sparrow has found a home

Alas, not every child finds a safe home. A child fell while in the nest of a car, the shelter the mother could provide, when she could not afford the inn. According to the report by Julie Manganis, “Mother facing charges after 2-year-old child dies of an apparent drug overdose” (The Salem News, Jan. 27), a mother carried the lifeless body of her 2-year old daughter, Lilly, to Lahey Hospital in Peabody, after they spent the night in her car. Efforts by the child’s grandmother and friends of the mother to intervene were not successful to save the child. Drugs may have caused the baby’s death. The mother has been arrested on charges relating to her daughter’s death.

Was anyone watching the sparrow fall? The homeless parent did not act; the grandmother tried; the agency needed approval from the court. The Commonwealth, obligated in law and morality to safely house every sparrow, had not invested the resources to create safe nests.

“It’s not fair that everything is falling on my daughter,” (the baby’s grandmother) said. “Everyone else walked away and left her alone with that baby.” — The Salem News, Jan. 27 Blaming the mother is less painful than accepting our own responsibility as a society. This is but one example of the gaps in our tattered safety net. We aren’t providing enough homes, homes that are suitable for each specific challenge.

The agencies and volunteers charged with helping the homeless and the migrant lack resources. There is a shortage of affordable, accessible housing and supportive services to enable people to stay out of a nursing home, or to be able to get out and live on their own.

The existing shelter system is operating at capacity. and Massachusetts has a legal obligation to immediately provide emergency shelter to homeless families due to a 1983 “right-toshelter” law. — The Boston Globe, Jan. 30 For people with disabilities, living in the community with essential support services is much better than living in a nursing home and that right was affirmed by the Supreme Court in Olmstead v. L.C., 527 U.S. 581 (1999). The Americans with Disabilities Act also requires that people are enabled to live in the community.

...a federal class action lawsuit filed in October in Boston that contends the state of Massachusetts is allowing thousands of people with disabilities to languish and often deteriorate in nursing facilities, even though they could be living independently. The lawsuit seeks to compel the state to expand existing programs and set up new ones to help people with disabilities transition out of nursing homes. — WGBH Morning Edition, Jan. 26 The Stop Bullying Coalition endorses the position of Dignity Alliance, urging the Commonwealth to settle and resolve the lawsuit and affirm by action the stated goal of inclusion for all.

People with certain allergies and chemical sensitivity living in subsidized or public housing do not always receive the reasonable accommodations they require to be safe. Laundry products can trigger asthma, smoking in nearby apartments can make a vulnerable person ill. A similar challenge confronts the elderly and disabled person who is highly vulnerable to severe illness or death from COVID. Unless the landlord establishes protective protocols, including the use of N95 masking to provide a zone of safety, the tenant remains at risk. These tenants can be forced out for their own safety when their landlords cannot or will not enforce the rule against smoking or make the needed changes to protect the person with the disability. But where can they go? An elderly woman had to move out of subsidized housing because of uncontrolled smoking, and with her money running out, sleeps in her car. Will she survive the cold?

Shelters do not provide the safe environment needed by people with chemical sensitivity or COVID vulnerability. Housing vouchers may seem to offer a solution, but they are hard to get, may not cover actual market rates; and finding a landlord who is willing to wait for days or weeks for approval and assurance of payment is hard when other renters stand with cash in hand.

In subsidized and public housing, a tenant can be bullied and mobbed so badly that they choose to become homeless rather than endure the torment. A law to create a tenant advocate with enforcement power to hold the landlord accountable would provide protection, oversight, and justice.

The solutions to each of these challenging problems will be hard-won; we must all innovate to provide safety and services to fully support independent living and safety in the community and in housing.

Let the sparrow find a home, and the swallow, her nest.

Jerry Halberstadt lives in Peabody. He is the coordinator of the StopBullyingCoalition. org, advocating for the rights of tenants, including elderly and disabled residents of subsidized and public housing, and supporting the work of Dignity Alliance Massachusetts.