Homelessness

Federal officials say the United States saw an 18.1% increase in homelessness, a dramatic rise driven mostly by a lack of affordable housing as well as devastating natural disasters and a surge of migrants in several parts of the country.

At Boston’s Pine Street Inn shelter, staff are doing all they can to help the homeless during the holidays, including by serving 1,000 meals on Christmas Eve.

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A holiday event serving homeless children in Brockton, Massachusetts, has been canceled due to financial challenges, school committee members say. Over the years, Brockton’s Dinner for Champions grew so much that it moved from Brockton High School in 2018 to Lombardo’s Event Center in 2022 — and to Gillette Stadium last year. “It started off with 100 families and it…

Normally hundreds of toys and warm meals await children and their families at Brockton’s annual “Dinner for Champions.” But this year school committee members say the event was canceled due to financial challenges in the city.

City councilors in Brockton, Massachusetts, voted to crack down on homeless encampments Tuesday after a heated public meeting. In a 7-to-4 vote, they approved a new ordinance that would fine people camping on public property $200 a day. The council also voted to punish loitering in public places with a $50 fine. During the meeting, some councilors emphasized that Salisbury…

Officials in Brockton, Massachusetts, are making moves to crack down on homeless encampments.

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Players stopped by the Pine Street Inn Tuesday to help pack outreach kits for people experiencing homelessness.

Homelessness is at the top of the agenda for candidates in mayoral races across the U.S. West. But they differ on whether it’s OK to clear encampments that have spread as the crisis has deepened and how much to rely on temporary housing.

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that city laws which punish homeless people who sleep outside are constitutional and do not violate the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

In downtown Atlanta, shipping containers have been transformed into an oasis for dozens of previously unsheltered people who now proudly call a former parking lot home. It’s just one example of micro communities that have been popping up across the U.S. In Denver, 1,500 people have been moved indoors through that city’s own micro community program.

Families may start getting kicked out of the Massachusetts emergency shelter system on Sept. 1, and providers who thought families had until next spring are feeling blindsided. Lawmakers and Gov. Maura Healey passed a law in April limiting how long families can stay in the emergency shelter system for the first time since the program’s creation. The limits were approved…

Shelter providers serving homeless individuals urged lawmakers Wednesday to provide funding for a workforce development program as they face an escalating demand for services, including among new arrivals to Massachusetts, that is straining the capacity of their facilities. Ahead of next week’s Senate budget debate, advocates with the Coalition for Homeless Individuals are looking to build support for a...

The state has announced the complete evacuation of a mold-infested emergency shelter in Boston’s Brighton neighborhood.

There were 44 families living at the former Charles River Motel when mold was discovered. The building will now undergo remediation.

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Officials in Salem, Massachusetts, are considering a ban on camping in an effort to clear homeless people’s tents from public walkways. For Shannon Donovan, each night is spent along a small stretch of sidewalk. “Failure is part of my story,” said Donovan. “To have people come down and misjudge us — a lot of us are good people.” Over the…

The city of Salem is looking to bar tents from public walkways and offer shelter to those who are cleared away.

A 12-year-old boy from Worcester is giving back to those in need, helping kids in shelters with one Easter basket at a time. Josh Sowden’s wish is to give every kid a very Happy Easter and he’s doing just that. All by making and donating baskets full of goodies to kids living in shelters. “I feel very happy knowing...

A 12-year-old boy is putting together Easter baskets in an effort to spread happiness to families in need this spring — after experiencing homelessness themselves.

Many organizations across Massachusetts are in need of assistance, and one nonprofit in the Merrimack Valley says donations are depleting as a result of the rise in child poverty, homelessness and the arrivals of migrants to the region. For almost 15 years, Catie’s Closet has helped 90,000 low-income students in schools all over Massachusetts and New Hampshire. “Catie’s Closet was…

With so many migrants in the region, local charities are asking for help.