Author: Jordan Frias
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Davis Square bar’s Mardi Gras concert will benefit local homeless coalition
Photo: Sweet Wednesday It will be a sweet Sunday when the band Sweet Wednesday takes the stage on Sunday, February 26 to perform in a Mardi Gras-style concert to benefit the Somerville Homeless Coalition at the Burren. Donations collected at the free event, which will take place from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., will go…
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Abuse of Homeless People at North Station Causes TD Garden to Rethink its Security
Allegations against several security guards who monitored the North Station area of the TD Garden have caused the company to sever ties with a contractor following the arrest of a man who police say viciously attacked a homeless man days before Christmas. Rene Norestant Jr., 27, of Everett was charged with two counts of assault…
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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…
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Two Recognized for Their Work at Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance Annual Meeting
The Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance annual meeting this year focused on recipients Timothy Driscoll and Marylou Sudders and the work they are doing to support homeless people in the Commonwealth. Timothy Driscoll of the South Middlesex Opportunity Council, a community-based anti-poverty agency for the Metrowest area, was honored with the Ed O’Neil Award for…
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Roxbury’s Whittier Street Apartments Receives Major Funding from HUD Grant
Roxbury was one of five communities this month to receive a major grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). HUD Deputy Secretary Nani Coloretti appeared at the Whittier Street Apartments with U.S. Congressman Michael Capuano and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh to announce the $30 million Choice Neighborhood Initiative grant on behalf of…
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Criminalization of Homelessness Persists, Report Finds
Despite efforts to help homeless populations get back on their feet, a new report finds that the criminalization of homelessness is on the rise. The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty has reviewed state laws over the past decade and has determined that as many as 187 cities continue to impose harsh penalties on…
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Some advocates see holes in HUD data, argue that homelessness may not be on the decline
The narrative that homelessness is on the decline nationally and in Massachusetts is something that local homeless advocates find hard to believe. Recently released reports from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) say that there are less homeless families, veterans and disabled persons on the street this year than in previous years, yet…
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Vice Mayor Marc McGovern talks to SCN about the city’s efforts to help the victims of last weeks 10-alarm fire in Cambridge
(Photo: Brett Boston) Days after the devastating fire that destroyed several houses along Berkshire Street in Cambridge and displaced almost 150 people, the city’s vice mayor Marc McGovern talked to Spare Change News about what he and his colleagues were doing to help those in need. Q: How are you guys helping people who lost…
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Denver lawyer seeks class action lawsuit against the city for homeless sweeps
Denver-based lawyer Jason Flores-Williams got tired of seeing homeless people in his neighborhood being sent out of the city in droves. He and Terese Howard, an organizer for Denver Homeless Out Loud, have joined the fight to protect homeless people from what they call unconstitutional “homeless sweeps” throughout the city. “There are no more rooms…
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Alleged Serial Killer Who Targeted San Diego’s Homeless Found Mentally Incompetent to Stand Trial
A San Diego serial killer arrested for the murder of three homeless men in July was found mentally incompetent to stand trial recently by Superior Court Judge Steven Stone. Stone ruled that Jon David Guerrero, 39, will spend the next three years at Patton State Hospital—a forensic psychiatric hospital in San Bernardino County—according to San…