The City of Boston is hoping to convey that rebuilding a bridge to Long Island is the best option for accessing and reopening a recovery campus for addicts during a meeting on Tuesday, May 7, in Quincy. The public meeting, being held at the Kennedy Center facility for the Quincy Council on Aging at 7…
To make health care more accessible, mobile van travels to communities that need it the most
The Family Van parked in East Boston. Credit: Anna Bloxham. On a Wednesday morning at Liberty Plaza in East Boston, a colorful van is parked in the lot with a tiny sandwich board beside it reading “Free Health Screenings.” The people inside are volunteers awaiting clients who will enter the van and ask to get…
Pine Street Inn Bringing Housing to Jamaica Plain
One of the city’s most prominent homeless shelters is planning to bring 140 units of permanent supportive housing to Jamaica Plain. Pine Street Inn, the region’s largest homeless services provider, announced it is working with a nonprofit housing organization to create 225 new units of housing at 3368 Washington Street and is planning to file…
Governor’s bill would ease zoning restrictions, create more housing in Massachusetts
In an effort to deal with the affordable housing crisis in Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker is encouraging the state legislature to pass a bill that would create more homes in the Bay State. His bill “An Act to Promote Housing Choices” now includes language that would allow cities and towns to easily pass zoning changes…
R.I. bill aims to make cars pull over before giving to panhandlers
A Rhode Island state legislator who says she is worried about safety on the roads is again trying to limit how panhandlers can receive money from strangers. Deputy House Speaker Charlene Lima filed a bill that would fine drivers and passengers who pass anything out of their car window while in an active travel lane.…
Boston receives millions to support chronically homeless in the city
Boston has been selected as one of the communities to receive federal funding from HUD for the creation of housing and to support homeless assistance programs. Mayor Martin Walsh announced the funding in a press release on Wednesday which states that nearly $26.3 million will be used to benefit Boston’s Way Home, a program dedicated…
Canada’s supervised injection sites impress Mass. mayors during weekend visit
Visiting safe injection facilities (SIF), where people inject drugs openly under the supervision of nurses, counselors and trained staff, has strengthened one mayor’s opinion and completely changed another’s within the course of one weekend. Boston Mayor Martin Walsh admits he was a strong opponent of the harm reduction strategy, but was impressed by what he…
Concord Houses Deal Preserves 171 Affordable Units in Boston’s South End
A deal struck with low-income tenants of the Concord Houses and the department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will allow 171 units to remain affordable for the next 40 years in the South End. Boston Mayor Martin Walsh’s office announced the agreement which allows tenants earning no more than 80 percent of annual median…
Volunteers Build Beds for Homeless People at Boston Latin
Hundreds came out in single digit weather to attend the 13th annual Boston Cares’ Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, held at the Boston Latin School for the third year in a row, on Monday, Jan. 21. Among them were many news faces who took to various service programs throughout the school, which included…
Boston Mayor ‘Impressed’ by Safe Injection Sites, Supports More Education on the Harm Reduction Model
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh plans to speak more about the good that safe injection sites can have on preventing overdose deaths and reducing harm for drug users after his recent visit to Canada where such programs were front and center. Walsh traveled to Toronto and Montreal this past weekend. He was joined by Chief of…