For Karyn M., clutching the keys to her own room for the first time brought on a strange combination of grief over her past and gratitude for what’s next.
Since being evicted from her apartment in July 2024, the 57-year-old had spent months living in Boston shelters. She had been trying to find some semblance of the stability she had before her life began to unravel — before she lost her job, her housing, and much of her belongings.
It’s why, on a recent Monday, while standing in her private room, she felt grateful.
“It’s not much, but it’s mine,” she said, looking around at the furniture, which included a full-sized bed and dresser.
The unit came courtesy of a new housing program overseen by Women’s Lunch Place that provides single rooms to 50 women for six months. The initiative is a short-term solution for Karyn and other women experiencing homelessness in the Boston area, a population that can be especially vulnerable as the region’s shelters suffer from overcrowding amid an increase in homelessness.
Unlike much of the country, women in Greater Boston experience homelessness at higher rates than men, in part because there are more homeless families here than individuals. Homeless families, experts say, are often led by women. The experience of being homeless is also particularly hard for women because many have experienced trauma such as domestic violence or sexual assault. And with so few shelters in Massachusetts specifically for them, many women often feel unsafe sleeping in coed spaces.
Other challenges arise, too: Mental health issues, addiction, and criminal backgrounds can all keep people from securing and sustaining stable housing and employment. For Karyn, a prior conviction for filing false tax returns has affected her job prospects.
That’s why Women’s Lunch Place ventured into women-exclusive housingthat also connects them to a social worker to build their future. (The Globe is not naming the specific location because some of the women living there have been victims of domestic violence.)
The program, partially funded through the state and the City of Boston, is a six-month pilot with the goal of easing the stress on the shelter system and helping the women obtain permanent housing.
“We will have wraparound services to support them in their housing journey and we anticipate that we will have a very high success rate in stabilizing women,” said Jennifer Hanlon Wigon, chief executive of the nonprofit.
More than 20,000 people are experiencing homelessness in Greater Boston, according to an analysis of the most recent data by Boston Indicators, the research arm of the Boston Foundation.
A vast majority of them — roughly 70 percent — are families, in large part because of the state’s right to shelter law. Experts say that’s partly why women experience homelessness at a rate of 30 per 10,000 compared with men’s 27 per 10,000.
Boston city officials have also noted the uptick in the number of adult survivors of domestic violence, which more than doubled from 135 people in 2023 to 385 people in 2024. About half of women experiencing homelessness nationally reported domestic violence was the immediate cause, according to the National Network to End Domestic Violence.
Amid a worsening housing crisis in Boston, coupled with the arrival of tens of thousands of migrants, homeless shelters in Massachusetts are seeing an incredible demand.
Victoria, another resident who recently moved into the Women’s Lunch Place housing program, left Peru in February 2023 seeking asylum in the United States, after facing poverty and an assault. She has an immigration hearing scheduled this month, she said, and is afraid of what might happen under the Trump administration. (The Globe is not using her last name due to her immigration status.)
“That trauma doesn’t let us live,” Victoria said. “There’s a fear to go outside.”
While Massachusetts’ unique shelter law means state officials have to provide housing, that law only applies to families with children and pregnant women. That leaves an estimated 4,500 people like Victoria without a safety net.
Governor Maura Healey recently asked the Legislature to amend the law to include a residency requirement that would leave recently arrived migrants ineligible for state-funded emergency housing, in order to prioritize Massachusetts residents.
The Globe spoke with several women experiencing homelessness in Boston this winter. Many of their stories of navigating the patchwork shelter system were similar.
Every night is a struggle to get a bed, they said, especially for women who work and often get to the shelter later in the day. If you’re late to the shelter’s daily lottery and they call your name, your bed goes to the next person who is there.
Frigid temperatures mean there’s more to carry to stay warm. Even finding storage can be an ordeal. Lockers are highly coveted and getting access to one means waiting for weeks at a time. Without a safe place to store belongings, people experiencing homelessness are often vulnerable to losing their valuables in city sweeps or theft.
Some are also more prone to mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, often due to the trauma of homelessness. In other cases, a mental health diagnosis is part of what exacerbates people’s housing instability.
Still one of the toughest challenges is dealing with the shame homelessness carries, many of the women said.
“[People] look down on us that don’t have a place like we’re trash or something,” said Jackeline Dixon, who lost her housing after a fire in her apartment complex in 2023.
Dixon, who said she was recently working at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Bedford before injuring her shoulder, now lives in transitional housing at a hotel in the South End while she waits for a permanent home. She said she’s on the wait list with the Boston Housing Authority, but there’s competition for the spots — currently 49,616 households are also on the list.
On most days, Dixon spends her afternoon at Women’s Lunch Place. An avid cook whose TikTok account boasts more than 30,000 followers, she hopes to one day volunteer at the nonprofit, giving back to a place that has helped her so much along the way.
“I really want to come back here and volunteer at the cafeteria, because that’s my strongest skill: cooking,” she said with a smile.
Until then, she waits, eager to get back to her regular schedule.
This story was produced by the Globe’s Money, Power, Inequality team, which covers the racial wealth gap in Greater Boston. You can sign up for the newsletter here.
Esmy Jimenez can be reached at esmy.jimenez@globe.com. Follow her @esmyjimenez.