Advocacy & Homelessness News
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Homelessness - In The News
Homeless Families Rise 22% in a Year - Children Hit Particularly Hard, Hub Census Says
By Milton J. Valencia - Globe Staff / January 6, 2009
 The number of homeless families living in Boston has jumped for the fourth straight year, making children without a home the fastest-growing group, according to results from the mayor's annual census.
The Homelessness Census showed that the number of families living in emergency shelters, transitional housing, or even in motels jumped 22 percent in the past year, from 3,175 in 2007 to 3,870 in December. The number of children without a home soared 24 percent in 2008, from 1,850 to 2,288.
As past programs have targeted the elderly and people with drug addictions and mental illness, city officials said a new, concerted effort is needed to assist homeless families as their numbers climb during tough economic times.
"For families, it's really about insufficient income to afford a place to live," said Jim Greene, director of the city's Emergency Shelter Commission. "Family homelessness is caused by the divide between people's incomes and housing costs, and when the gap is too great the problem gets worse."
The Homelessness Census, required by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, is based on a count of the overall number of poeple living in emergency shelters, transitional housing, hospitals and medical facilities, hotels and motels, and on the streets on one given night.
On December 15, Mayor Thomas M. Menino and about 350 volunteers including city and state officials went into Boston's neighborhoods, reaching out to people living in alleys and under bridges and referring them to shelters and programs. City officials counted an overall total of 7,681 homeless people that night - which included individuals and family members - up from 6,930 last year, an 11 percent jump. More . . .
Patrick-Murray Administration Announces Regional Pilot Networks to Lessen Shelter Needs for the Homeless
$8 Million in Funding to Help Agencies Coordinate, Streamline Services, and Find Permanent Housing for Homeless
Mass.gov Press Release - December 16, 2008
The Patrick-Murray Administration today continued to restructure support systems that serve the homeless by awarding $8 million to eight regional pilot networks around the state. The networks will help better coordinate, integrate and implement innovative services focused on securing permanent housing options for homeless individuals and families, and ultimately lessen the need for emergency assistance shelters.
Lt. Governor Timothy Murray announced the funding today at the State House, following a meeting of the Massachusetts Interagency Council of Housing and Homelessness.
“This award is part of our ongoing commitment to decrease the need for emergency shelters by helping families and individuals to find permanent housing,” said Lt. Governor Murray, who serves as chairman of the ICHH. “This regional network system will help identify best practices through flexible housing resources and innovative services to help us achieve our ultimate goal of permanently ending homelessness in Massachusetts”
Governor Deval Patrick convened the ICHH to implement the recommendations issued in January 2008 by the Massachusetts Commission to End Homelessness. The commission proposed to re-design the current system, which requires a significant restructuring of the way services reach the homeless. The commission’s vision for individual and family systems included supportive housing, stabilization, prevention, rapid re-housing, linkages to appropriate community supports, and improved economic stability.
“These eight new Networks align Massachusetts with the Federal focus on local strategies framed by a public-private sector collaboration on prevention and intervention using innovative initiatives that will be better for the community, better for the homeless person, and better for the taxpayer,” said United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano. “Governor Patrick and Lt. Governor Murray are to be commended for moving the Massachusetts model to the forefront of state responses in ending the long misery of homelessness for our poorest neighbors.” More . . . |