To many observers, this statement may seem like an exaggeration. Some state and local officials claim they are doing everything they can to ease what is an ongoing state health emergency, while advocates for the homeless see it a different way. As the old phrase goes, the numbers don’t lie. Homelessness in RI has increased by 35 percent in 2024, as reported by The Public’s Radio. Another staggering number clearly frames an ongoing issue- 54 people died in 2023 who were homeless. And, many observers from a variety of agencies, including the Mathewson Street Church homeless program, point out that this number is only the people that were found. Many advocates believe that there are probably more who perish and are never found. For instance, individuals who may die due to hypothermia in rural areas.
The Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness reports additional grim statistics. A year ago, in January 2024, the organization conducted its annual week-long unhoused survey across the state. It’s what is termed a Point in Time Count Survey. Volunteers conducting the survey counted 2,442 homeless persons, representing 877 family members, 1,565 individuals, 130 veterans, and another 936 people who are chronically homeless.
Kevin Simmons, Outreach Director at the Mathewson Street Church, and a decades-long advocate for homeless people, said those numbers probably do not reflect an accurate count. There are many individuals that just don’t get counted. Another longtime advocate for RI’s homeless and poor populations, Cynthia Mendes, a former state senator, deems (D) Governor Dan McKee, “Deeply incompetent,” when it comes to looking out for the state’s most vulnerable citizens.
Mendes, along with more than 150 activists, held a rally and protest recently during the annual State of the State speech, given by McKee. She said the governor truly showed his lack of concern for the state’s homeless population by blocking the RI State House Rotunda from protesters during his speech. State Police, along with Capital Police, blocked protestors’ access to the rotunda. During the nearly two-hour protest, demonstrators shouting, “McKee has got to go,” moved through the lower hallways of the state house. The rally, dubbed the “People’s State of the State,” was organized by Rhode Island Black Lives Matter PAC, among other groups.
Harrison Tuttle, the state’s Black Lives Matter organizer, said the homelessness crisis in the Ocean State is totally out of control. He notes that the national average of homelessness increase is 18 percent, but that our state has risen 34.9 percent in the same period.
Protesters are demanding that McKee declare a statewide healthcare emergency immediately. Tuttle adds that would free up funds to help deal with the massive crisis. Both the governor’s office and House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, (D) had no comment when contacted by Motif.
Tuttle adds that state residents are suffering because of the lack of governmental action. Nearly half of RI’s “working class is living paycheck to paycheck,” he stresses, while corporate developers buy up properties and build glitzy, out-of-reach apartments and condos across the state. Mendes, who organized the 18-day public sleep-in at the RI State House in 2021, said the state is not doing enough, despite a $17 million grant recently announced by Democratic US Senator Jack Reed to combat homelessness.
She adds that despite losing her bid for lieutenant governor in 2022, she does not miss politics at all. She said that she does not want to waste her time dealing with apathetic state lawmakers about the crisis. Mendes, who was raised in New Bedford Public Housing, says she understands the plight of this state’s growing poor population.
She outlined a three point agenda to protect this state’s homeless population. It includes declaring a statewide health emergency, an eviction moratorium, and a statewide cap on rent increases. She supports up to a four percent rent increase for apartment dwellers. “We really need rent control in the state,” she said. Experts cite sky-high housing and apartment costs, coupled with inadequate health care, mental health care, and substance abuse support, as the leading causes of homelessness in the state. In November 2024, the median home price in RI was $495,000, higher than the national average. And, in January of 2025, the average monthly one-bedroom rent for an apartment was $1,748. While state lawmakers, many of whom have comfortable day jobs as attorneys and accountants, and live in comfortable safe communities, mull over what the next step is in dealing with the spiraling crisis, homeless people struggle across the state. People like Don King, a 62-year-old man who now lives in transitional housing and tells us he is grateful to finally have a roof over his head.
Being homeless has made King humble, and he hopes more people will become understanding and demand that local, state, and federal lawmakers do much more. King also said that three homeless people have already died in RI since the start of 2025. He wipes tears away; he knew two of the victims. So, here we are, in the middle of a deep and frigid winter, amidst soaring housing and food costs, electric costs that jumped 25 percent since last winter, and a return of Trump, whom many activists, especially progressive housing advocates, say will make the crisis much worse. Incidentally, 41.8 percent of registered RI voters – 214,406 voters – cast ballots for President Trump. A blue state now heading toward chaotic red. What would the honorable Senator Claiborne Pell (D) think if he were still with us? With looming Federal budget cuts that will affect all of this nation’s working class people, it is time to act. •
The session that runs into the spring is the perfect time to call your General Assembly lawmakers and demand action on homelessness. The RI State House number is 401.222.2983 or you can contact Street Sights, the local homeless advocacy publication, at streetsights@gmail.com