Last month, Trump administration officials announced a long-awaited proposed rule that encourages, but does not require, all public housing authorities and private property owners who rent to people using a Section 8 housing voucher to implement a work requirement and time limits for non-disabled, non-elderly adults in federally-funded housing.
homeless
Posted inHousing
Holyoke’s unsheltered homeless count hits new record as threats to federal aid loom
The state and federal funding landscape continues to shift while homelessness in Western Massachusetts has reached unprecedented levels in the aftermath of the pandemic. Holyoke had the highest unsheltered count in all of Hampden County this year, according to preliminary numbers.
Posted inHousing
Trump administration targets program for chronically homeless residents, sparking fear for vulnerable populations in cities like Springfield
The overhaul has been temporarily and partially blocked by a federal judge, but the move is impacting local administrators of the federal program across Massachusetts and has threatened millions of dollars in funding for permanent housing and thousands of beds for the chronically homeless.
Posted inOpinion
Gov. Healey’s mixed messages on housing for those most in need
AS A FAMILY medicine physician at Boston Medical Center, I have cared for hundreds of individuals and families experiencing homelessness over the last 20 years. The landscape of housing services […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Removal of Mass. and Cass encampment long overdue
BOSTON MAYOR Michelle Wu’s plan to clear tents from the Mass. and Cass homeless camping site by January 12 is long overdue. If only it had been done earlier, the […]
Posted inOpinion
Progress on homelessness/COVID-19 is uneven
AT ONE OF HIS DAILY COVID-19 press briefings, Gov. Charlie Baker announced that the Newton Pavilion, formerly part of the Boston Medical Center campus, would serve as a health care […]
Posted inOpinion
Worcester pursues interesting COVID-19 homeless option
IN TIMES OF TRUE CRISIS, true leaders emerge. And at a moment when shelter providers across the Commonwealth are being asked to ignore the recommended protocols established to stop the […]
Posted inMicrophilanthropy
Knitting together help for the homeless
THERE ARE GRAND policy plans and programs to serve the homeless – and then there are more direct, small acts of kindness. Last night, a team of 300 volunteers and […]
Posted inEconomy
Panera Cares, but for how long?
FOUR YEARS AFTER the Panera Cares community café opened at Center Plaza in Boston, it’s still in business. But the restaurant’s unorthodox approach to addressing hunger isn’t working out exactly […]
Posted inPolitics, Transportation
Boston says it’s studying whether to rebuild Long Island Bridge
A SPOKESWOMAN FOR Boston Mayor Marty Walsh issued a statement saying the city is doing a cost-benefit analysis on rebuilding the Long Island Bridge, which is a shift from the […]