At last year’s point in time count—the city’s annual homeless census where groups of volunteers physically count the homeless folks they see in the streets—Mayor Marty Walsh had recently announced the City of Boston functionally ended veteran homelessness. This year, to a crowd of 400 volunteers, he announced that two-and-a-half years of housing first initiatives…
Boston Shows Up For Equality
On January 21, 2017, women across the world made history. Over 125,000 Bostonians and New Englanders gathered in the Boston Common to march in solidarity with communities affected most by intolerance, hate and injustice. Symbolically, the event took place the day after Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States. “United…
City of Cambridge moving inclusionary zoning amendment into law
Cambridge has created 100 units of affordable housing over the past year, a trend it is looking to continue and build upon 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,…
RAFT Program Prevents Homelessness, Saves Taxpayers Millions
In 2016, taxpayers in the state of Massachusetts saved roughly $137 million thanks to the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT) program. By allotting $12.5 million to homelessness prevention, 1,319 clients were assisted in Boston alone. The vast savings is due to the fact that to hold a family in emergency housing for the…
HUD awards close to $70 million to support homeless programs in Massachusetts
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded more than $69.4 million to support 277 homeless housing and service programs in Massachusetts this past December. The funding comes from the Continuum of Care grants, that provides critically needed housing and support services to individuals and families experiencing homelessness across the state. “This funding…
Lawsuit accuses Baker administration of denying shelter to homeless families
Naikis Cepeda is often forced to answer a question from her children that no parent ever wants to face: why don’t we have a home? The 28-year-old mother of two has confronted this question several times since her abusive husband abandoned her, leaving the family homeless. On nights when she was denied emergency shelter from…
Charitable foundation offers backpacks to the homeless
On Tuesday evening, of Dec. 20, Elvita Isenia gave homeless people backpacks that are filled with useful supplies. “I feel like I need to be there at some point to be able to alleviate their situation,” Isenia said. Isenia and her two friends walked up and down the Back Bay area, scrounging for homeless…
Sexual abuse still persists fifteen years after Spotlight, attorney and source argues
Fifteen years after the Boston Globe’s Spotlight series uncovered the widespread sexual abuse of Catholic priest — and more than a year after it became a highly acclaimed film on the big screen — the issue of priest molesting children still exists throughout Massachusetts and worldwide. Attorney Mitchell Garabedian and members of the Survivors Network…
Remembering Wade Aubin
Wade died on Tuesday December 27 after a courageous battle with cancer. A memorial was held for him on January 1. He was the youngest of my mother’s children and for many years was homeless in Harvard Square, Cambridge. He suffered from alcoholism, but he’d been sober for 10-years and was living on disability in an apartment by himself in Arlington, where…
City of Boston Receives $50,000 Grant for Substance Abuse Disorder Assessment
The City of Boston was selected to receive a $50,000 Special Initiatives Grant to take steps toward developing a city-wide strategy for prevention of substance use disorders, Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s office said in a press release on Nov. 28. The grant funding will be used to develop a comprehensive needs assessment to help develop…