Mayor Walsh Announces Details and Members of Task Force on Individual Homelessness

On Thanksgiving, Mayor Martin J. Walsh announced the formation of the Mayor's Task Force on Individual Homelessness, a group charged with examining Boston’s current shelter system and available support services, and outlining a strategy that will put homeless individuals on a path to permanent housing. Today, Mayor Walsh shared the details of this task force, as well as a list of participating members.

“Homelessness is a complex issue, rooted in many causes, from addiction to mental illness to unemployment, and compounded by the competitive housing market in our city,” Mayor Walsh said. “The closure of the Long Island Bridge is an opportunity for us to take a hard look at what we’re doing here about the broader issue. When an individual walks into the front door of one of Boston’s homeless shelters, we need to do a better job finding them the services and resources they need to find a place to call home. To help us do that, today I am charging this group of diverse professionals and individuals to recommend bold, innovative solutions to help us end street, veterans, and chronic homelessness in the city of Boston.”

The Task Force will include providers, the business community, foundations and philanthropic organizations, experts in innovation and analytics, subject matter experts from City staff, and clients of the city’s homeless services. The group will be tasked with analyzing the City’s resources and delivery systems, and providing concrete ideas for structural and systems improvements. Within the first 90 days, the Task Force will make recommendations and propose an accompanying budget and action plan to accomplish eight targeted goals:

Provide appropriate relocation for and service improvements to the Long Island Shelter, and implement improved communication during this transition period;
Reduce and work towards eliminating the number of individuals who live in shelter for longer than 180 days;
Undertake a statewide response and align City policies to reduce the number of homeless individuals arriving from outside of Boston seeking housing and services
Reduce the number of individuals living on the street;
Improve discharge planning, outlining necessary proposed changes to ensure that discharges of individuals leaving state and other systems of care do not disproportionately impact Boston;
Develop an Unaccompanied Youth and Young Adult engagement and diversion plan. Improve the way shelter, housing, and service needs of homeless women are addressed across the system; and
Propose resources and potential sources needed to obtain improvements and recommended goals.

The City of Boston is taking the closure of Long Island as an opportunity to evaluate operations and identify ways to better serve some of Boston’s most vulnerable residents. In partnership with private shelter providers throughout the city, the City has established a temporary system to maintain access to emergency shelter, training, counseling, and support services to those individuals formerly receiving services on Long Island.

In addition, Boston is currently executing “Bringing Boston Home,” an action plan to house Boston’s homeless. Since the plan’s implementation, 121 individuals who had been previously living in shelter for one year or longer have been permanently housed. In addition, 42 vulnerable individuals who had been chronically homeless have been permanently housed, and 411 formerly homeless veterans have been permanently housed.

The task force will be co-chaired by Sheila Dillon, Chief of Housing, and Felix Arroyo, Chief of Health & Human Services. Other city representatives will include individuals from the Mayor’s cabinet, the Boston Public Health Commission, Boston Police Department, Boston Housing Authority, and the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics. Members of the Task Force on Individual Homelessness include:

Lyndia Downey, Pine Street Inn
Andy McCawley, New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans
Pamela Ogletree, Children Services of Roxbury
Elizabeth Jackson, Bridge Over Troubled Waters
Barry Bock, Boston Health Care for the Homeless
Karen LaFrazia, St. Francis House
Michael Weekes, The Provider Council
Jack Connors, Camp Harborview
John Rosenthal, Friends of Boston's Homeless
Sachin Jain, Harvard Medical School
Karen Kaplan, Hill Holliday
Stephen Fox, South End Forum
Luis Rosario, consumer
Tonya Williams, consumer
Bob Pulster, U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness
Rose Evans, Division of Housing Stabilization, Division of Housing Stabilization
Department of Housing and Community Development
Michael Durkin, United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley
Melinda Marble, Pilot House Associates
Rebecca Koepnick, The Boston Foundation
Father Joe White, Our Lady of Good Voyage
Ryan Moser and Sarah Gallagher, Corporation for Supportive Housing