by David Abel
A year after city officials abruptly closed Long Island, evacuating hundreds of homeless residents and recovering addicts because the rickety bridge to the island was no longer safe, gaping holes remain in the city’s social safety net.

More than 100 recovery and detox beds, much in demand, have yet to be replaced. Many former residents, such as Jacqueline Carrasquillo, have bounced between programs and still struggle with the emotional repercussions of the island’s unexpected closure.

Read more at BostonGlobe.com. 

THURSDAY MARKED the one-year anniversary of the closing of the Long Island Bridge, which left hundreds of our most vulnerable neighbors without access to the lifesaving emergency shelter and addiction recovery programs that were housed on the island (“Year since Long Island’s close finds safeguards still lacking,” Page A1, Oct. 8). Despite progress over the past year at restoring many of these services on the mainland, the impact of this event is still being felt: Detox and recovery programs have yet to be relocated, some overnight shelters operate in substandard condition, and a lack of trust in the city’s response to the crisis remains.

The distressing picture is bigger than Long Island, with family homelessness rising by 25 percent in the city in the past year alone.


I ask the City of Boston and all its residents to use this anniversary to recommit ourselves to creating a community of compassion; respecting the dignity of every person, housed and unhoused; and investing in solutions that will prevent homelessness in the first place.

The Rev. June Cooper

Executive director


City Mission Society of Boston
This letter appeared in the Boston Globe. 

by Travis Anderson

The tally of homeless families in Boston spiked by 25 percent this year, a result of “stagnant wages and increasing costs of housing, child care, and other essentials,” an advocacy group and a city official said Tuesday.

FamilyAid Boston, the group that tracked the statistics, said in a statement the city’s annual homeless census in February showed there were “1,543 homeless families in the city, an increase of 25% over last year’s census.”

Read more at BostonGlobe.com. 

Learn more from FamilyAid Boston and support their work. 

by Melissa Hanson

The religious community at Trinity Church remembered Jesus’ suffering with a march through the city Friday afternoon, stopping to pray and sing while reflecting on the city’s displaced homeless population, violence, and problems caused by racial and economic disparity.

Under a gray, cloudy sky, more than 45 people marched through the Back Bay in the 15th Good Friday walk called “Stations of the City,” modeled after the Stations of the Cross, on the day when Christians remember the crucifixion of Jesus.
...
In his sermon, the Rev. William W. Rich spoke of troubles that plagued Jesus during his lifetime that are still present today.


Read more at BostonGlobe.com

by David Abel
New security cameras are in place, along with new plumbing, heating, and electrical systems. The floors have been redone with vinyl tiles, the leaky roof repaired, and the walls repainted.

Months after city officials said it would be ready, the old city building in Mattapan will become home this month to addiction recovery and prisoner reentry programs that were closed in October when the city abruptly condemned a bridge leading to their former home on Long Island. City officials had said the stately brick building on River Street, which will provide about 75 beds to former inmates and drug addicts, would be finished in November.

The delay has meant some of the city’s most vulnerable residents have gone six months without vital services. And the building’s opening comes a week after city officials acknowledged they would need several months to complete another new shelter on Southampton Street for hundreds of homeless people who also lived on Long Island.

Read more at BostonGlobe.com

by David Abel

Last year, Mayor Martin J. Walsh promised that the city’s new shelter on Southampton Street would be ready by April for nearly 500 homeless men displaced last fall from their refuge on Long Island.

But a tour on Friday revealed that much of the new shelter remains a construction zone. Only 100 men have moved in so far, and city officials acknowledged that the rest of the beds won’t become available until at least this summer.

Read more at BostonGlobe.com 

By Ann Mostue

It’s a weekday morning in the basement of Old South Church in Copley Square. About 50 people are sitting on couches and chairs, chatting and eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. A 53-year-old man named John is reading a novel.

“I’ve been coming here for about 2 weeks, since it opened. It’s terrific. Because of the heat and the food and the cots.”

A woman named Denise eyes six cots covered with wool blankets. They’re behind a curtain in the back of the room.  

“They’re wonderful. I came in yesterday and I was tired, but I ended up sleeping for like 4 hours in the back. It was really nice. I haven’t been able to do that since I’ve been in this position.”

Denise says she’s been homeless since Christmas, and that it’s hard to sleep in an overnight shelter. But the atmosphere here is pleasant, quiet even. This is one of two warming shelters in the city – the other’s at Emmanuel Church. They’re open to anyone who needs to come in from the cold, but they’re closed at night. 

... Read more at WGBH's website.

By Rector Phil LaBelle
... 

"I’m not sure if Tom is the first homeless person to worship at St. Mark’s, but I do know he’s the first who came and was given a microphone to tell his story. I know for certain he’s the first homeless person I’ve had over for a meal at my home even though the Bible is pretty clear I should be doing that regularly. Tom reminded us all that he’s just another human being on this journey of life needing companionship and conversation like any of us.

"I don’t know if I’ll ever see Tom again, or what he’ll be doing tonight when the temperature once again falls below zero. But I do know this: he reminded me of the power found in Joseph Burnett’s words. All of us are God’s children regardless of the ways we label people in our world. All are welcome into God’s loving embrace. And I know that on a snowy Sunday morning for a few hours a group of parishioners got to know an intriguing and caring man who just happened to no longer have a place to call home. He became Tom to us, a beloved child of God."

Read more at: RamblingPriest.com

By Kristin Toussaint

“We know that many of the people that come to the warm centers have never had that opportunity — to be somewhere warm and safe — for many years,” said June Cooper [City Mission Society]. “Many people have been sleeping [at other shelters like Pine Street Inn and Rosie’s Place], but they have to get up and out real early, some folks have told me by 6 a.m..”

Boston Warm was initially slated to operate until March, but Cooper said they’re having meetings about the need to keep the day shelters open for an additional month.

“We know that the resources that the city is putting in place will take longer than anticipated,” Cooper said.


read more at Boston.com. 

by Beth Healy

Time stopped in October for two drug treatment centers on Boston’s Long Island, when the city shut down the bridge that was the only route to their facilities.

Both had to abandon their offices on the island. Their clients — poor and trying to kick drug habits — had to seek alternative services. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding for treatment have been lost.

Now, the problems have multiplied. The centers filed insurance claims under their “business interruption” policies, expecting to recover enough money to set up new service sites. Their claims were rejected.

Read more at BostonGlobe.com. 

by Deborah Becker 

While Boston continues to deal with mountains of snow andextreme cold, the city is also grappling with an even larger than usual number of homeless people.

... 

One way they’re trying to do that is by reopening what’s known as the Boston Night Center, a downtown refuge of last resort for those who live on the streets. Dozens of people have been coming to the night center, which is open from 8:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. every day, to get warm, get a meal and sometimes get medical attention from Dr. Jim O’Connell, president of Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program.

“The nighttime drop-in center is designed to take in the people who, for whatever reasons, won’t go or can’t go to the shelter,” O’Connell said.

...


one condition that O’Connell and other medical professionals in Boston are having a tough time treating is substance abuse. When Boston officials closed the bridge to Long Island in October and shuttered the city’s largest homeless shelter on the island, they also closed substance abuse facilities — including Andrew House, the city’s largest detoxification unit. It typically served about 100 people a week and often referred them to further treatment.

“Almost all of these people were in Andrew House at some point,” O’Connell said. “So some people would now be in detox with the hope of going on to further treatment. Now, none of that is happening. By the time morning comes, they’re so sick, they want to go and drink or whatever and they can’t make it to the detox. Even if they did find detox, there’s no place to send them so they’re back after four or five days. So that system has just fallen apart, right at a time when such focus has been on avoiding the drug overdoses.”

Some estimates suggest that Boston lost about 60 percent of its substance abuse treatment beds when the Long Island bridge was closed for safety reasons.


Read more at WBUR.org. 

By Rev. Stephen O. Voysey and Rev. Christen H. Mills

WickedLocal.com WESTON
TO THE EDITOR:

On Oct. 8, 2014, the bridge to Long Island in Boston Harbor was closed due to safety concerns. Within hours, nearly 700 men and women who had been staying in the Long Island Shelter were displaced.

In response, an interfaith coalition called Boston Religious Leaders for the Long Island Refugees was formed to support those who had previously called Long Island their home.

One thing the coalition heard from those who were displaced was that there was an urgent need for a warm, safe, welcoming place to be during the day.http://www.stpetersweston.org

In response, the coalition addressed this critical need by opening two temporary day warming shelters – one at Old South Church in Copley Square and one at Emmanuel Episcopal Church on Newbury Street. These shelters provide unhoused men and women a place to go where they are welcome, safe and warm.

In addition to serving coffee, tea, and snacks, they provide a place where homeless men and women can find community, support and rest.

Both of the clergy at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Weston have been actively involved in these efforts. The Rev. Stephen Voysey, rector of St. Peter’s, has been a member of the coalition, Boston Religious Leaders for the Long Island Refugees, since its beginnings in October.

The Rev. Christen Mills, assistant priest at St. Peter’s, was hired in January to be the site director of the Boston Warm @ Emmanuel Day Shelter. She serves in this capacity in addition to her work at St. Peter’s, where she focuses on ministry to children, youth and families.

Members of the parish have also become involved by donating goods, giving financial support, and signing up as volunteers.

To learn how you can join us in this important work, or to see a list of the most urgently needed donations, go online (https://bostonwarm.weebly.com).

Donations can be delivered to the office at St. Peter’s Church between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Tuesday to Friday. – Rev. Stephen O. Voysey, rector, and Rev. Christen H. Mills, assistant for Christian formation, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Boston Post Road, Weston (www.stpetersweston.org)

"... The new warming centers may represent a change in the landscape of helping others: “It’s a shift to a more immediate experience,” says Layzer “We’re not just writing checks, we’re not just lobbying for justice. We’re taking the risk of having encounters and relationships.” It’s a shift toward hands-on community building and involvement.

BostonWarm at Old South offers snacks and coffee and can accommodate about 30 to 40 people at a time. It also provides 100 overnight storage lockers. The day space was put together in about nine days, including fundraising—an estimated $40,000 for the Old South and Emmanuel sites. ..."

Read more at SpareChangeNews.net. 

by Andrew Ryan


"A coalition of clergy and interfaith leaders has been critical of the city’s response, in part because temporary cots and crowded facilities can further tax an already fragile population.

'We’re frustrated,' said the Rev. Nancy S. Taylor, senior minister at Old South Church, which recently opened a temporary daytime warming center for the homeless in Copley Square. 'We’re anxious for a population of people who are already dispossessed and made refugees, for whom everyday becomes more dire.'"


Read more at BostonGlobe.com

As a collection of travelers waited for the last trains to depart South Station, a small group of homeless people began setting up blankets, planning to stay through the storm.

Transit Police inside the train station said shuttles were available to transport people to the Pine Street Inn on Harrison Avenue. But a group of about five said they did not want to go.



Read more at BostonGlobe.com

Since the closure of Boston Harbor’s Long Island in October, there’s been much debate over how to care for the homeless people who resided there. But the island also hosted another 200 people in substance abuse recovery programs. In fact, Long Island housed about a third of the women’s recovery programs in Greater Boston. Now there’s a critical shortage of detox beds.

Jeannie and Rebecca are both 30 years old and could be any roommates trying to make lives in Boston.

They look happy, healthy, and stylish — an appearance that shows just how far they’ve come. The two are recovering from heroin addiction — a habit that Jeannie says almost killed her.

"I relapsed back in March of last year and I woke up with a breathing tube down my throat and lucky just to make it," she said.

Now, Jeannie and Rebecca consider themselves lucky to have ended up in jail instead of dead. While on probation, they were beginning to put their lives back together — living at the halfway house on Long Island.


Read more and watch the video at the WGBH website. 

by Lisa Wangsness

Old South Church in Copley Square, with support from a coalition of interfaith leaders and congregations from across Greater Boston, plans to open two of its rooms on Monday as a temporary daytime warming center for the homeless.

Clergy spearheading the “Boston Warm” effort say the need for the shelter underscores the shortcomings of the city’s response to the hundreds of homeless people displaced last fall. A structurally unsound bridge to Long Island was closed abruptly, cutting off access to the city’s main emergency shelter and recovery houses.

Read more at BostonGlobe.com

This essay appeared in the Boston Globe. 

This call for action was written by religious leaders in the Boston area concerned about the consequences of the closure of the Long Island Bridge:

There is a crisis in Boston. It doesn’t erupt; it doesn’t boil over. Instead it simmers on low, night after night, week after week, in storefront alcoves, vacant lots, makeshift spaces in the lobbies and dining rooms of privately run health care and homeless centers. It happens at the margins. If we, the comfortable, register its effects at all, we see them peripherally, out of the corner of our eye. But for those caught in the middle of this crisis, homelessness is deadly.

Read more at BostonGlobe.com

by David Abel

Three weeks ago, asbestos tiles covered the floors and many of the windows were cracked or drafty. Grimy paint peeled off plaster walls also filled with asbestos, and an array of bulky tools littered the old workshop where for decades city workers made signs, meters, and traffic lights.

Since then, in a feat of unparalleled speed for any previous city building, the Boston Transportation Department’s old sign shop has been completely transformed into the city’s new shelter for the homeless -- with $2 million worth of new floors, walls, plumbing, lighting, fire alarms, sheetrock, paint, electrical and heating systems, and much more.


read more ... and watch the video ... at BostonGlobe.com

by David Abel
With temperatures expected to plummet below zero this week, city officials and homeless advocates are racing to find more space to house the surge of people sleeping on the streets since the city’s largest shelter on Long Island closed last fall.

Read more at BostonGlobe.com

by Peter Schworm


St. Francis House, a shelter in downtown Boston that provides refuge to hundreds of homeless people, used to open its doors each morning at 7. But after the city’s shelter on Long Island abruptly closed in October, the line of people waiting to get in stretched down the block, and the shelter decided to open a half-hour earlier.

In the late afternoon, the dining room tables are now pushed aside for 25 cots, part of a citywide effort to take in those displaced from the Long Island shelter as winter begins.

“The whole system is in chaos,” said Karen LaFrazia, executive director of St. Francis House, the largest day shelter in New England. “When you throw all the pieces up in the air, you aren’t really sure how they are going to fall.”

Read more at BostonGlobe.com

On Thanksgiving, Mayor Martin J. Walsh announced the formation of the Mayor's Task Force on Individual Homelessness, a group charged with examining Boston’s current shelter system and available support services, and outlining a strategy that will put homeless individuals on a path to permanent housing. Today, Mayor Walsh shared the details of this task force, as well as a list of participating members.
 
“Homelessness is a complex issue, rooted in many causes, from addiction to mental illness to unemployment, and compounded by the competitive housing market in our city,” Mayor  Walsh said.  “The closure of the Long Island Bridge is an opportunity for us to take a hard look at what we’re doing here about the broader issue. When an individual walks into the front door of one of Boston’s homeless shelters, we need to do a better job finding them the services and resources they need to find a place to call home. To help us do that, today I am charging this group of diverse professionals and individuals to recommend bold, innovative solutions to help us end street, veterans, and chronic homelessness in the city of Boston.”