The Joint Committee on Housing held a hearing on Tuesday, Jan. 14, on a bill before the Massachusetts Legislature that would lift the ban on rent control in Massachusetts, allowing cities and towns to decide if it’s best for their respective communities. The bill is being sponsored by Rep. Michael Connolly (D-Middlesex) and Nika Elugardo…
Believe it when you see it: City promises money it doesn’t have
I will probably be in the minority on this but I’m not at all impressed with the Mayor of Boston’s State of the City speech Tuesday night. Especially the new rental subsidy program. First of all, this is clearly politically motivated, and if you don’t think so, well – to each their own. But look,…
Boston pledges $500 million over five years for housing
Mayor Marty Walsh’s administration has announced a five year $500 million investment in affordable housing, but a vital revenue stream needed to fund the investment isn’t a sure thing. The administration has proposed a transfer tax of up to two percent, which according to Chief Financial Officer Emme Handy would generate “something like in excess…
Just in Time For the Holidays
Back in 1989 a man named Albert Turner aka “the Root Doctor” who was a major part of Martin Luther King’s Civil Rights movement spoke of a government that had no need for poor people. Those words probably never rang any truer than they do now. The Trump Administration recently hired Robert Marbut as the…
Celebrate the release of SCN writer’s book at the Lizard Lounge
Come out to the Lizard Lounge and celebrate the release of “Heroin’s Harbour,” the forthcoming book by Spare Change News Columnist, Vendor, and Poetry Editor Marc Goldfinger on Sunday, Dec. 8. The night will kick off with a poetry slam at 8p.m., and Marc will take the stage to do a reading at about 9:30p.m.…
From the Street to the Finish Line
Photo by Margarita Dreyer. When a woman walked into homeless shelters in Philadelphia in 2007 and asked residents if they wanted to go for a run, she didn’t know that by 2019 her individual gesture would be a movement. Back on my Feet has grown from one woman to an organization with 13 chapters nationwide.…
A voice for the children of Gaza
Yousef Aljamal. According to UNICEF, Israel is the first and only country in the world to establish a juvenile military court. Each year approximately 500-700 Palestinian children, some as young as 12, are tried and imprisoned by the court. Human rights organizations report that these children are beaten, tortured and placed in solitary confinement in…
Over a third of people leaving prison have no place to go
Imagine for a moment you’re being released from prison after a 12-month sentence for theft. You’re clean, off drugs, it’s been tough, but you’re looking forward to starting a new life. You leave prison and head to the nearest probation service to find out where you’re going to live. Only to find out there’s nowhere…
Winter Arrives Early
As I sit here writing, I realize that the temperature today, this Tuesday in November is supposed to slam down into the teens with a chill factor below 10 degrees. I remember what it was like to be homeless in weather like this and my heart goes out to my brothers and sisters on the…
‘Furnishing Hope’ helps families transition out of shelters
Providing homeless people with a place to live is a huge step on the road to helping them rebuild their lives, but once they’ve moved in they need to fill their new place with the necessities that make it livable and comfortable. Boston based organization Furnishing Hope is working to meet those needs by providing…