A woman identified only as Lynetta tells the assembled advocates and service providers about her experience with homelessness, after being evicted by an unscrupulous landlord. Photo by Alejandro Ramirez One day, Lynetta and her family were evicted from their home. She says her landlord retroactively increased her rent, which is illegal, and painted her as…
Schools Programs Keep Hunger and Homelessness From Derailing Local Students
Bunker Hill Community College student Michael Curran knows what it’s like to be homeless and struggling in school. Curran, 28, of Medford, is among the many students who rely on the college’s Single Stop program for food and other resources to get by in life and in school. When asked how often he comes to…
OUT ON HER OWN: A Story of LGBTQ Youth Homelessness
Photo by Mike DeSocio. Author’s Note: The central character in this story, Liniște, asked that she be referred to by a pseudonym for safety reasons. I met Liniște in September and spent five months following her throughout various parts of her life, closely observing her experiences with homelessness and sexuality. This approach seemed most appropriate…
Plan JP/Rox passes after tense meeting and two day sit-in
All photos: Alejandro Ramirez After a public meeting full of disruption from affordable housing advocates and a nearly 48 hour sit-in at the mayor’s waiting room, the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) passed the contested Plan JP/Rox development plan. Advocates, mostly from Jamaica Plain’s Keep It 100% for Egleston, packed the hearing on Thursday…
Point in time count 2017
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…
Solving Dilemmas: Mel King, legendary activist and politician, talks fair housing in Boston
Photo: Zengzheng Wang Mel King is one of the fiercest and certainly most experienced crusaders in the fight for affordable housing in Boston. Just three years ago, at the age of 85, he was arrested at an eviction protest. In addition to his decades-long career of activism, King boats stints as a state representative, an…
Mayor Walsh Announces New Funding for Homelessness Services
Photo: Zengzhang Wang As part of his goal to end chronic homelessness in Boston, Mayor Martin J. Walsh pledged $1.3 million in his proposed budget for next year to fund homelessness services. The proposal includes $150,000 for “front-door triage,” which will allow staff at shelters around the city to find the best way to help…
How Boston is trying to combat the effects of hunger
Those in poverty face many challenges, but one of the most devastating challenges is hunger. Although Massachusetts does its part by enforcing a minimum wage that’s almost $3 higher than the federal minimum wage, the reality is that the benefit of those increased earnings are diminished rather quickly by the high rents in the Boston…
Advocates push for city-funded housing voucher program
The Boston City Council held a public hearing to explore the possibility of a city-funded housing voucher program. The hearing comes in the wake of diminished federal funding for housing assistance, and housing advocates have actively proposed a model similar to D.C.’s program. Specifically, advocates are pushing for the city to spend $5 million of…
Plan…? What plan?
A couple of weeks ago, several homeless advocates and I received word that a homeless man from a Boston shelter had died from meningitis. A few things ran through my mind as I talked with the other advocates. Obviously, my first concern was making sure our own vendors were safe. My other thought was: why…
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