HOLYOKE, MA (WGGB/WSHM) -- The Western Massachusetts Network to End Homelessness held its annual gathering at Holyoke Community College on Friday and the message was clear: state action needs to be taken to address what they call spiraling rents and the homelessness emergency.

According to a report on the 2026 homelessness point in time count in the western region, more than 1,900 people were counted as homeless. That’s more than a 46-percent drop from last year, but the report said that’s due to increasingly restricted access to the state’s family shelters.

The report also highlights skyrocketing rent prices in the region since 2022. The network says those costs have gone up 58 percent in Hampshire County, 39 percent in Franklin County, 37 percent in Hampden County, and 10 percent in the Berkshires.

State Representative Homar Gomez, who has family members who’ve experienced homelessness, explained what legislators are doing about this issue. “We have a bill in the House that we should be moving. Giving the opportunity to municipalities to adopt that law and control the rent and keep the people who live in those municipalities, in their municipalities, with the people that they know. With the families, with the neighbors, with, you know, when we stay in places more than a year, we create a community and we should keep the community together,” he said.

You can CLICK HERE for more information on the network’s report.

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