Boston and the Homeless

Having spent a lot of time running around the country, I'd argue Boston has done a much better job of handling the homeless population than most, with much less of a "street" homeless / unhoused problem than many many other cities. Yes, Boston has the 2nd highest rate of homelessness amongst large US cities, but we have the 8th lowest rate of "unsheltered" homeless. The national average is 40%; LA's is 73%, while the rate in Greater Boston is 6% - Boston proper is just 3%. The last citywide census was just over 130 individuals; that's smaller than many individual encampments elsewhere. The other metric is chronic homelessness - that lasting more than a year or repeatedly due to mental illness or substance abuse. Boston's is 9% compared to a national average of 22%. Long Island would absolutely be a incredibly valuable resource, but Boston & our local orgs are doing as good of a job as you'll find in the US.

Societally, we need to stop assuming that everyone who is homeless is mentally ill / a criminal / a drug addict - those are factors at the individual level which don't translate to population level. Greater Boston notably has substantially lower rates of such factors than most cities, even amongst the homeless - but what does have a huge body of research is that housing affordability is absolutely the key factor.

www.pewtrusts.org

How Housing Costs Drive Levels of Homelessness

A new analysis of rent prices and homelessness in American cities demonstrates the strong connection between the two: homelessness is high in urban areas where rents are high, and homelessness rises when rents rise.
www.pewtrusts.org www.pewtrusts.org
 
www.bostonglobe.com

Boston inches closer to rebuilding Long Island Bridge - The Boston Globe

For years, Boston officials have sought to place a large addiction-recovery campus on Long Island.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
Boston has cleared one of the last major permitting hurdles in its longstanding quest to rebuild the Long Island Bridge, and is preparing to move ahead even as Quincy’s staunch opposition continues.
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection granted Boston a key state permit on Jan. 7, siding with the city over Quincy, which had previously appealed the authorization.
Click to expand...
 
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I was just thinking about the status of the bridge this morning. As the mayoral race heats up I hope all candidates are really pressed on this issue. Where do you stand, how do you plan to address the homeless and vagrant crisis, and should the bridge be built. I expect the anti-Wu candidates will be in a bit of a tough spot on it, but this needs to happen and soon.
 
I get the arguments against rebuilding Long Island but there is not a mayor or governor who is going to advocate for a new central treatment center within a few miles of a residential area. Barring a new compound in Widett or Newmarket there will be abutters galore the moment a plan drops.

We're in election season so everyone should have their pencils sharpened. Wu is clearly in support of Long Island and has made incremental progress getting there, but with huge obstacles remaining. Someone should put Kraft's feet to the fire here and see if there's alignment or some daylight between the two. Now is the perfect time to get creative.
 
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