Businesses moving out, citing safety concerns from rising homelessness

By Samantha Chaney, Juli McDonald

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    BROCKTON, Massachusetts (WBZ) — A business owner in Brockton, Massachusetts is moving his tech support company out of the city, saying he’s fed up with homelessness and the associated issues plaguing downtown.

Concerned about safety

For more than 20 years, Howard Wright ran Wright Technology Group in downtown Brockton but the office sits empty now. Wright said he was concerned about safety in the area. He said he’s hoping to move back if Brockton makes major changes.

“It’s become more aggressive, more violent,” said Wright. “It’s a situation where my team members don’t want to come in. We had individuals taking drugs outside our office, we come in the morning, they used to be asleep in the vestibule and make a mess and no one really felt comfortable.”

The number of people experiencing homelessness in Brockton has skyrocketed recently and local leaders said they’re taking safety measures.

“We, as an organization, we have invested dollars in security cameras, we invested in a gate,” said Mary Waldron, the president of the Downtown Brockton Association.

Wright has already relocated his business but he isn’t the only one who’s considered moving out of Brockton because of safety issues.

Mayor vetoed ordinances

“We’ve lost staff over the woman in my office not feeling safe coming to work,” said Dominic Falcetta, the president of Service and Dependability Plumbing and Heating Inc. He said he’s also planning to leave town. “I arrive usually in the dark and I leave in the dark. So I’m fearful in the mornings.”

Wright, Falcetta and Waldron said they’ve all made complaints to the city and nothing has been done.

“I filed two ordinances to try and address the encampment issue downtown and the loitering issues,” said City Councilor Jeff Thompson, who represents the ward.

Both of Thompson’s ordinances were vetoed by the mayor, as critics argued they criminalized homelessness. WBZ-TV reached out to the mayor’s office for a statement on the issue but did not hear back.

Homelessness on the rise

According to a new federal report, homelessness across the country has reached historically high numbers.

Between 2023 and 2024, Massachusetts experienced a more than 50% increase in homelessness. Among families with children, it climbed a staggering 74%. Advocates partially “attributed this increase to the state’s Right to Shelter Law and its application to hundreds of recently arrived migrant families, refugees and asylum seekers.”

“We’re seeing the number of migrant families coming into Massachusetts go way down, that’s good,” said Gov. Maura Healey in an interview with WBZ-TV political analyst Jon Keller. “Because I’ve also sent the message Massachusetts, we are not a sanctuary state. If you come here, there is not housing here.”

Healey said Massachusetts will stop using hotels as emergency shelters.

The federal homelessness report also pointed to factors including high cost of living, inflation and rent increases. Healey said overdue reforms to the shelter system aim to support Massachusetts families who have fallen on hard times.

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