-To increase the accuracy of the public’s perception of homelessness
Contributors are designated by number only for the day on which what we have to say is published; the numbers aren’t permanent identifiers.
Homeless shelters aren’t named, also to protect the identities of contributors, who have every reason to fear retaliation from the shelters which are supposed to help us.
April 6, 2019:
April 6, 2019:
Homeless Human 1:
Me and my disabled mother had a chance at a low-income
housing apartment on the commuter rail, but due to the $369 fare plus them
going up on the fare in July, I had to choose between my job and my housing. We’ve been homeless for 5 months. I’ve been working. If we could have taken that apartment, we
could have moved in this month.
If they made the commuter rail affordable, there would be
a lot of housing for the homeless outside of Boston.
Because the commuter rail is so expensive, there are a
lot of housing authorities that I can’t even get to in order to apply. In a recent example, the one-way fare to
check out an apartment was $44/person.
It would have cost my mother and me $176, round-trip, to visit an
apartment which wasn’t even guaranteed to us.
In addition to the cost, other people have concerns about
continuity of care with their medical providers in Boston. They have appointments in Boston every month,
if not every other week, so apartments that are on the commuter rail are out of
the question.
Homeless Human 2:
I’ve been homeless
for about 2 ½ months. For the first 2
weeks, I was at a small shelter in a suburb of Boston. It was very disorganized and I think they
were overwhelmed every day. The beds
were very uncomfortable; the way they had them set up, you were almost on top
of each other. You literally had to walk
sideways between the beds; that’s how crowded it was. Nice people worked there, but they gave me no
information about housing.
I’ve been living
at a larger shelter in Boston for the past 2 months. Other than being asked to do an intake when I
first got here, in which I answered questions about myself such as where I’m
from, nobody has approached me to ask me if I need help or to give me
information.
Copyright Homeless Humans, April 6, 2019
Copyright Homeless Humans, April 6, 2019
