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Center for Social Policy
McCormack Graduate School
University of Massachusetts Boston
100 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, MA 02125-3393
Phone: (617) 287 5550
Fax: (617) 287 5544
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| Housing, not shelters, for homeless |
Author(s):
Brian Sokol & Nancy Sullivan (McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies, UMass Boston)
Source(s):
Boston Globe, page A28
Date: November 26, 2003
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YOUR EDITORIAL "Uprooting homelessness" (Nov. 21) rightly praises the state's shift from a
shelter-first model to a housing-first model in fighting homelessness. A recent report by
the Center for Social Policy at UMass-Boston showed that only 26 percent of individuals
entering emergency shelters came directly from housing. Most everyone else came from other
emergency shelters or the streets. Shelter-first most often leads not to housing but to
shelter second and shelter forever.
Several other states have had much success by focusing on housing. Minnesota seeks
competitive bids for housing and prevention initiatives; future grants are tied to
measurable outcomes.
In the Massachusetts rental market, current eligibility requirements that deny emergency
shelter to families earning more than 100 percent of the federal poverty line -- not enough
even for subsidized housing -- deter those trying earn enough to afford a home.
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