When Tufts underclassmen return from a night out to sleep in their dorms and families turn in from neighborhood get-togethers to tuck children into cribs, an increasing number of Boston's inhabitants are finding that the only places to sleep are in a shelter or on the street.
The most recent Boston homeless census found that between 2007 and 2008, the city's homeless population increased 3.9 percent overall and 22 percent for families - many of which are composed of single mothers and their children. At Tufts, students are using both educational and extracurricular outlets to attack the problem.
Roberta Rubin, a lecturer in the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts, teaches the course "Homelessness in America." The class looks at homelessness from a variety of perspectives and requires students to perform community service in shelters or other organizations addressing homelessness.
Rubin said that her students have worked to gain a more personal relationship with the homeless community by working both on the streets and in the classroom. "They're getting the experience and bringing it back to the classroom," Rubin said. "For some, it's a very transformative experience ... Even by talking about the homeless, we talk about them as an 'other.' One common theme is that students start chatting with homeless people and realize they're people who just happen to be homeless."
But while many organizations exist to address homelessness, officials say that the problem is multi-layered and difficult to combat.
Barbara Shenker, the director of outreach for hopeFound, a Boston-based non-profit working to overcome homelessness, explained that there is no one direction to take in working to combat the increase in the homeless population.
"If there was a straightforward answer to what's causing the increase, we would fix it. If we knew the answer, we could go out and get it done," Shenker said. "There are tons of factors that contribute to homelessness. The two most obvious are substance abuse and mental illness, but whether or not [they factor into] the increase, I can't speak to."
Rubin agreed that there is not a single cause for homelessness but suggested that economic factors, particularly in Boston, play a major role.
"If you look at what it costs for an apartment and you compare that with incomes, particularly for low-wage workers, there's such an enormous disparity, even with rental costs softening," Rubin said. "You just don't have enough affordable housing. At base, I think you can say it's related to a housing crisis."
Rubin also stressed that the issue should be approached both from an economic and behavioral stance.
"A lot of people look at the issue of homelessness as an either-or," she said. "Either it's explained because of structural economic issues, or it's explained because of individual character, whether it's behavior such as substance abuse or engagement in criminal behavior. Really, it's a combination of things."
Rubin cited the economic vulnerability of single moms and their children as one cause for the increasing number of families without homes.
"If you look at who is vulnerable in the economic ladder, single moms and their kids are more likely to be poor," she said. "They're more vulnerable to the economic issues."
Senior Jen Bokoff, a client advocate for National Student Partnerships (NSP), has had direct experience within the homeless community through the organization, which partners students one-on-one with those in need.
"Our general mission is to help individuals in the community in whatever way they need, and that often involves specific case management in the areas of employment, housing, tax preparation, linking to resources in the community and generally talking with them about what they're having trouble with," Bokoff said.
Bokoff said the skills that Tufts students use in the academic world are helpful to NSP's work with the homeless community.
"We as college students have all these soft skills that can really help people," she said. "The ability to research, the ability to talk to people, the ability to think outside the box and be able to organize data and analyze and figure out the next step - [we] can bring a lot to our clients that way. Something that homeless people face a lot of times are barriers that don't seem like barriers to other people."
The Leonard Carmichael Society's Hunger and Homelessness group also works to combat homelessness by organizing volunteer work in food rescue, meal serving and shelter assistance.
"What we do is coordinate different events and trips for Tufts students," said Theron Corbin, a shelter program coordinator. "We take trips to local shelters as well as shelters in Boston, both adult and family, and do meal preparation and meal service. We sometimes do construction or other work around shelters."
The most common trend among those who have worked closely among the homeless is a desire to relate with them.
"A lot of these homeless people have incredible stories," Bokoff said. "I've worked with a Harvard graduate who had a stroke and became homeless because his wife left him. I've worked with people my age whose parents have kicked them out because they're drug addicts ... When you meet those people and hear their stories, it makes you want to give something back and learn from them at the same time."
