housing first

Through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Alliance to End Homelessness has made a new video available to the public for free. The video can be accessed here.

The National Alliance is hoping that by offering this video for free, various groups will be able to use it for fundraising, educational purposes, and prompting discussion about how we work to end homelessness in our own communities.

What do you think of this video? Does it provide you with new information? How should United Way use it, and in what circumstances? Will you share this video with others?

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Yesterday I read an article (Amid Growth, No Place to Go) regarding the increase of homelessness in Plymouth. It discussed both the response of local merchants in the Plymouth downtown area, as well as those struggling on the streets. Business owners–and this is not strictly the sentiments of those in Plymouth–feel that customers are less likely to spend money at a store where a homeless person is hanging around the outside. They cite safety issues as their greatest concern including general vagrancy and drunkenness.  read more »

With all the holiday toy drives, coat collections, and food drives,
it's easy for us to figure out how we can do something very simple to
help homeless and other low-income families. In an immediate way, we
can see that our donations of winter coats and stuffed animals can make
a difference for families who don't have the extra resources we all
need at this time of year. It makes us feel good, and it really does
mean something to those receiving the gifts. After reading an article
by Victoria Cheng in the Boston Globe last Sunday however, I was moved
to help keep people focused on the long-term goal - ending homelessness...  read more »

This morning, The Boston Globe ran a front page story on the record numbers of families being placed by the state into area motels because homeless shelters are over capacity. As of June 15, there were 751 families, with about 1000 children total, living in local motels at a cost to taxpayers of nearly $2 million last month ($85 a night).  read more »