Q&A: SHNS Talks With Pine Street Inn's Lyndia Downie

“We're seeing significant increased demand at the front door of the shelter. Typically, this time of the year, our demand goes down, everybody gets a breather, but that hasn't happened this year. That's a worry. We typically add beds every winter, to respond to increased demand and obviously to the weather. We did not take our beds down from this winter, and we're looking at trying to add beds on top of that. So there's a space issue, for one, [and] there's a funding issue.”

August 9, 2024

State House News Service

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Crowded shelters struggle to find and retain staff, providers tell lawmakers during State House rally

“Our state does not have the right-to-shelter protections for individuals as it does for families,” Rep. John Moran, D-9th Suffolk, said at the advocacy event in Nurses Hall. “And were it not for people in this room stepping up each and every day, we’d be in a crisis.”

May 16, 2024

MassLive / Statehouse News Service

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Amid shelter crisis, don’t forget about individual homelessness

“Just as families have a right to shelter, shelter for individuals is equally critical to the safety and well-being of every community across the Commonwealth. Our elected officials have a set of difficult budget choices before them, but shelter for individuals must be fully funded. We cannot let this critical piece of the safety net–one that we know works–falter.”

April 30, 2024

CommonWealth Beacon

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City shelters housing rising number of individual migrants

“While the headlines and political debate have focused on the wave of immigrant families, and the resultant strain on overwhelmed state-run shelters, individual migrants are exacting a similar toll on the system of city-run and nonprofit shelters in Boston.”

April 7, 2024

Boston Globe

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There’s another shelter crisis happening in Massachusetts

“But the individual shelter system is in crisis too. It is also seeing alarming spikes in folks needing somewhere to eat and sleep. And providers are trying to offer care with funding that doesn’t come close to the need arriving on their doorsteps every day.”

April 6, 2024

Boston Globe

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Who is eligible under Right to Shelter law?

“The housing crisis continues in Massachusetts and much attention has been placed on the state’s right to shelter law. But a closer look at the law finds that it doesn’t protect everyone. Massachusetts is the only right-to-shelter state in the country and that law only applies to families. So what happens to individuals seeking shelter?”

March 21, 2024

22News WWLP

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