WORCESTER COUNTY, Mass. - The Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance is calling for more affordable housing in Worcester County.

The homeless population is up 45% in the county from last year. Executive Director Leah Bradley said the increase is concerning. 

“We are seeing a rise in the number of people who are working who are experiencing homelessness or are at high risk of homelessness,” Bradley said. 

Higher rent payments and the cost of living are too expensive and are forcing people to leave their homes. Bradley said there are only two homeless shelters in the county: one in Worcester and one in Leominster, leaving most people with nowhere to go. 

“We are seeing an increase in the number of rental assistance requests, people are staying homeless longer and they are leaving homeless for not permanent destinations,” Bradley said.  

Bradley said the county needs more affordable units and larger scale projects to get people into housing. She said, in Worcester, approving the city council’s inclusionary zoning proposal is one way to do it.

“​What that will do is it will require a certain percentage of the market rate units to be affordable or those developers can make a payment to the affordable housing trust fund in lieu of the units becoming affordable,” Bradley said. 

Bradley said city leaders dedicated money and resources to fixing the problem.

“Like an incentive program for landlords to help landlords and tenants,” Bradley said. “They’ve been investing in our data system so we can more quickly connect folks to housing and a system navigator program as well.”

​Three projects are underway and should help a little. They will create about 75 units of affordable housing in central Massachusetts.