Shelters Archives

50 YEARS OF HOMELESS ADVOCACY IN CAMBRIDGE

An interview with First Church Shelter Director Jim Stewart

ADAM SENNOTT January 9, 2024

THE WAITING GAME

He’s been to shelters, he has a case worker, doctors will help him—but how much longer can he wait? Meet Billy, one of the many sources informing “Cambridge Unhoused,” who sells Spare Change News in Central Square

CHRIS FARAONE December 5, 2023

IN MASS, A LACK OF COORDINATION HAMPERS EFFORTS TO HELP THE UNHOUSED

“We don’t have a network of communication between the communities, so it’s very easy for people to slip through the cracks, which is not good for them.”

ADAM SENNOTT November 16, 2023

HOUSING FIRST IN MASSACHUSETTS, EXPLAINED

Studies show that permanent supportive housing works, including in Massachusetts. Here’s how it has worked so far, how it could work on a larger scale, and what’s holding it back.

COHAVIT GIL November 9, 2023

“REBUILDING RELATIONSHIPS” AT HARVARD SQUARE’S UNIQUE YOUTH HOMELESS SHELTER

“You’re coming into a space that is primarily filled with people that are in your age range, and I think in any world that’s a safer space to be.”

ADAM SENNOTT November 6, 2023

FOLLOWING UP WITH A FAMILY FORCED OUT BY FLAMES

“In about five minutes, everything we had was all ashes, and there was nothing we could do about it.”

FRANK CHEN November 2, 2023

INTRODUCING CAMBRIDGE UNHOUSED

Why are we blanketing one Massachusetts city in particular with focused housing crisis coverage this winter?

CHRIS FARAONE November 1, 2023

CAMBRIDGE UNHOUSED

Introducing Cambridge Unhoused Why are we blanketing one Massachusetts city in particular with focused housing crisis coverage this winter? By Chris Faraone, BINJ Editorial Director Almost everything we cover at the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism ends in homelessness. Environmental injustice. Prison, re-entry, parole. The opioid epidemic. Institutional racism. The

BOSTON INSTITUTE FOR NONPROFIT JOURNALISM November 1, 2023

SHELTER SHOCK

Despite effective short-term measures, long-term homelessness persists in Mass

CHRIS HUES January 28, 2021

THE OUTSIDERS

Kicked out of home and misunderstood by social service providers, homeless LGBTQ youth often have nowhere to turn Author’s Note: The central character in this story, Liniște, asked that she be referred to by a pseudonym for safety reasons. I met Liniște in September and spent five months following her

MIKE DESOCIO March 8, 2017