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May 1, 2013

Prince George’s to open new homeless Capitol Heights youth shelter

Promise Place, a 20-bed shelter for youths ages 12-17 will be opening on May 2 and will be the second federally funded youth shelter. Even though the number of unaccompanied youth has decreased, the number of these youths who are not in shelters has increased. Kids should not be by themselves on the streets.

This Week in Poverty: Ignoring Homeless Families

Homeless families have been ignored since 2000. In 2011, the number of parents and children who are staying in shelter added up to 500,000. We are moving families out of shelter too fast, and these families are not succeeding on their own. The nation as a whole is focusing more on single adults than families. Since 2007, there has been a 19% decrease in the number of homeless single adults, while there has been an increase of more than 13% of homeless families. We need to focus on both single homeless adults and homeless families at the same time.

Massachusetts reduces number of homeless families living in hotels by more than 50 percent

The number of families in hotels has decreased since July of 2012 from 513 to 255. This decreased has eliminated hotels in West Springfield and well as a hotel in Holyoke. The Department of Housing has started to focus on removing families from specific hotels, based on the availability of affordable housing and homeless shelter beds. The majority of these families are headed by single parents, a number of whom are victims of domestic assault. There is also a growing number of young parents, who under 25, and have limited education and work history staying in hotels. Even with the reductions, the demand for affordable housing is growing and there is a long waiting list for people who are trying to enter public housing.

April 24, 2013.

Washington DC Facing Family Homelessness Crisis.

According to the article, there are over 1,000 families that are homeless. The number of homeless children has increased almost 75% since 2008. Many of these families are living in shelters. One shelter, the D.C. General family shelter was converted hospital complex that now holds about 286 families. Shelter isn’t an ideal place, but for the families it is better than living on the streets. Finding affordable housing is a major issue and getting access to a shelter is sometimes even more difficult.

April 17, 2013.

Family throws birthday parties for thousands of homeless kids.

Like Birthday Wishes (an organization that provides birthday parties to homeless children in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York City) a North Carolina family founded an organization, Bright Blessings, which throws birthday parties for homeless children in shelters every month. Most children in shelters don’t have birthday parties, or have never been to one. This is a great way for these children to experience having a party and receiving presents that they are able keep.

March 27, 2013

Scores of Youth Turned Away. Many homeless unaccompanied youth are being turned away from shelters due to budget cuts. Many agencies that help unaccompanied youth have lost funding, so these children are living with relatives or friends or sleeping in their cars. These children need to have stable housing.

Fundraiser to Help Benefit Project Hope. Thony Jaboin, a Medford based personal-trainer is running the Boston Marathon to raise money for Project Hope. The funds will be applied to the agency’s core services: Homelessness prevention; adult education and ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) classes; training and access to jobs that pay career level wages; high quality day care; and providing emergency shelter services and ongoing case management for families in crisis. The fundraiser will be held at The Irish American Club on Friday March 29^th at 7pm. For more information about Project Hope http://www.prohope.org/

Raising Money, Awareness for Area’s Homeless. An Emergency Over-flow Shelter in Vermont is closing in mid-April which would leave homeless people back to sleeping cars, tents, and friends’ couches. Two shelters are teaming up for a fundraising event to spread awareness of homelessness in the Brattleboro Vermont area. The community wants to raise about $20,000 by pitching tents and sleeping outside on Friday, May 3rd.

March 13, 2013. Census indicates rise in Boston’s homeless population.

The 33^rd Annual Homeless Census done in December of 2012 has showed that there is an increase by over five percent of the homeless population. According to the census, there were 6,992 homeless men, women, and children living in shelters, on the street, and in transitional or residential treatment programs in Boston. The number of homeless families in Boston increased by 7.8 percent from 1,082 to 1,166 households. While the number of homeless individuals living on the streets is lower here in Boston than in other major cities, there’s still an urgent need,” Boston Mayor Tom Menino said.

March 6 2013. Homeless families have been moved out of moldy motel rooms With the help of Rep. Ted Speliotis and DHCD, families moved out of rooms that were being used so often that mold developed. Rep. Speliotis wants to make sure that no other families move in.

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