Mass. homelessness at record high

BOSTON, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Homelessness in Massachusetts is at an all-time high and is likely to continue to rise because of surging home foreclosures, advocates for the homeless say.

Services providers say homeless shelters across the state are filled to capacity and that 574 Massachusetts families are being housed in hotels and motels, The Boston Globe reported Monday.

That's an increase from the 27 families housed in motels at this time last year, the newspaper said, adding that an additional spike in homelessness is expected as winter approaches.

"We don't want to turn people away in the winter and we don't want to have people die outside," John Yazwinski, executive director of Boston nonprofit shelter provider Father Bills & MainSpring, told the Globe. "We're afraid we may not have the capacity to get everybody indoors."

State figures showed that Massachusetts had about 2,000 families and 2,900 individuals in all types of shelters, an increase of 143 families and 93 individuals from October 2007.

"We're doing all we can to accommodate the increase and, at the same time, identify permanent housing options for people," Marilyn Anderson Chase, an official with the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services, told the Globe.