Residents Preview Worcester Hotel Conversion For Chronically Homeless

WORCESTER, MA — A public forum this week gave residents in one Worcester neighborhood a glimpse at plans for a new permanent supportive housing project that will convert a distressed hotel off Lincoln Street into 90 units for the chronically homeless.

The Quality Inn conversion is the largest project planned in Worcester to house the city's homeless population, which grew to over 800 over the winter, according to Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance estimates.

The Quality Inn project has permission to proceed, but some in the nearby neighborhood have continued to express their opposition, including at the forum held Monday evening at a community center in Great Brook Valley.

The residents say problems attributed to local homeless residents have started to get better in recent years, and fear the Quality Inn project will concentrate homeless people in the neighborhood. They predict a host of difficulties in the future, ranging from crime and litter to danger for students at the Lincoln Street School.

One resident who did not want to give his name to a reporter said he would be more comfortable with the project if it was smaller. Other projects in Worcester — including a stalled tiny home village along Stafford Street and a permanent supportive housing project under construction along Lewis Street — only have around 20 units each, the resident highlighted.

Leonard Thibault, who has lived in the neighborhood for 33 years, said he's worried about property values an "more crime … more homelessness." Even though the project will provide shelter for local homeless residents, neighbors believe it will also attract new homeless people to the area.

Officials from Worcester Community Housing Resources, the nonprofit behind the project, have promised the renovated hotel will become a community asset, with potential residents subject to a screening process and a requirement to put some of their income toward rent.

"By redeveloping the hotel into new homes for neighbors in need, we will bring stability to the neighborhood and make it a safer place to live," a flier handed out at Monday's meeting said.

The building will have overnight security, and Elliot Community Human Services will provide on-site case managers, social workers and recovery coaches to help residents struggling with addiction.

Married couple Domenica Perrone and Noah Meister attended the Monday open house to support the project. Perrone, who is running for Worcester City Council in 2023, and Meister said they liked that the Quality Inn conversion is a tangible solution to homelessness rather than more lip service about the problem

"This is what we should be doing to address a crisis that is not going away," Perrone said.

The open house-style meeting was part of a series of meetings about the Oriol Drive project. WCHR began meeting with residents in November before the plan went to the Planning Board. WCHR also went door-to-door in April to talk with residents about the project.

The Worcester Planning Board approved the Quality Inn conversion in January, but other projects related to sheltering the homeless are in flux.

A proposal to add a six-unit homeless shelter for families at Zion Lutheran Church along Whitmarsh Avenue has been opposed by some Greendale-area residents. The Zoning Board of Appeals has delayed a vote on that project until June 5. City Manager Eric Batista, who attended Monday's open house, has also said the city wants to move away from providing resources to open congregate shelters, like the Hotel Grace replacement that opened during the winter at the Blessed Sacrament church along Pleasant Street. Officials say they want homeless residents placed in permanent supportive housing, like what the Quality Inn conversion will provide.

According to WCHR, the project has amassed $4 million in funding commitments against an estimated $22.7 million cost. Construction could begin as soon as the fall, and the work could take between six and nine months. WCHR wants to begin offering leases in 2024.