Photo: Courtesy Once a year in the financial district, and typically on a harsh, cold day, white-collar workers change from their office attire into their workout clothes and take a cycling class together outside. The event is called iCycle, and it’s organized by HomeStart, a nonprofit that has helped people find and maintain housing for…
Mobile Homeless Outreach Team Gets Last Minute Reprieve From Funding Loss
Update: On Wednesday, Action Boston for Community Development (ABCD) announced their outreach van program has been extended to the end of April thanks to additional funding from the City of Malden. However, ABCD is still concerned the program will shut down after April 30th if they can’t secure ongoing funding. Original story On an unusually…
New $600 Million Development Breaks Ground in Fenway, Raises Gentrification Concerns
On Jan. 30, Fenway Center hosted a groundbreaking for a $600 million development project, which will include five new buildings, 550 residential units, and office and retail space, has been long-anticipated. The event was attended by Governor Charlie Baker, Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack, Boston Planning and Development Agency Director Brian Golden, and developer John Rosenthal.…
Know Hard Times or Homelessness? We’d Love You to Work For Us!
What does the Trump Era mean for Spare Change News? In the simplest terms, it means that we as an organization feel called to think bigger. The original vision of the Spare Change founders to “build a bridge between the haves and the have nots” takes on a new urgency today as current events suggest…
Cambridge Might Increase Housing Stock to 20 Percent Affordable
Cambridge has created 100 units of affordable housing over the past year, a trend it’s looking to build on in 2017. The Cambridge City Council hopes to increase the percentage of affordable housing to 20 percent of the city’s total residential housing units by June of this year. Cambridge implemented inclusionary zoning, a tool utilized…
Cold Weather, Colder Reality
Quincy COPE has been serving food and love at South Station for years with little or no complaints, that is until now. Apparently one of the Station’s security guards probably with nothing better to do approached Suzanne Featherstone (who is seen by many as the leader of the Quincy contingent) and the other volunteers and…
Bitter Sleep: An Incident at the Boston Public Library
On Wednesday Dec. 27 the National Weather Service has issued its first wind chill advisory in Boston where temperatures are expected to range between five above zero to twenty below zero degrees. Frostbite conditions like this can kill people, and at the Boston Central Library on that day a man was tossed out into them…
HUD Delays Obama-era Policy on Fair Housing
Fair Housing Act (FHA) requirements for funding have now been put on hold by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) until 2020, leaving housing advocates across the country worried about unaddressed inequities. Under President Barack Obama HUD began requiring communities to provide data on how they address segregation issues and other concerns under…
Minimum Wage Increase Would Be Boon For Families that Depend on Teens’ Paychecks
A new study from the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center says raising the minimum wage has little impact on teen unemployment, but can have a big impact on teens and their families. On Monday, 18 states saw their minimum wages increase, but Massachusetts wasn’t among them. A bill in the state legislature would raise the…
Homeless Memorial Service 2017
The pews at Church on the Hill were filled with friends, advocates, and members of the homeless community on Thursday to pay tribute to over 100 people who died this past year. The interfaith service marked the 28th anniversary of the National Homeless Person’s Memorial Day, though the Boston community has seen a similar event…