Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson filed an expedited hearing order at Wednesday’s City Council meeting in response to the city’s recent resolution to shut down two transitional housing programs intended for Boston citizens in recovery at the Southampton Street Shelter.
The programs are Project SOAR, which stands for stability, opportunity, achievement and recovery, a 20-bed house for residents in recovery, as well as Safe Harbor, a 20-resident home that houses those who are HIV-positive and recouping, according to a press release sent from Jackson’s office on Monday.
Heshan Berents-Weeramuni, a spokesperson for Jackson, said the purpose of Jackson’s hearing order is to find out why the housing programs closed and to devise a solution to the issue.
“Councilor Jackson filed the legislation for an expedited hearing order as soon as we could get a date so that we could bring attention to this,” Berents-Weeramuni said. “We want to get to the bottom of exactly why they’ve closed it so abruptly. The councilor is incredibly concerned about this. His mantra is not an empty hashtag.”
Berents-Weeramuni said a cry for help from residents urged Jackson to call for a change.
“We’ve taken this up because people from the community have come to us and said, ‘Oh my goodness, I can’t believe this is happening,’” Berents-Weeramuni said. “Frankly, their stories are so much more compelling than anything I can say.”
When the city made the decision to close the Long Island Shelter, another program that offered housing to recovering addicts, the Boston Homeless Solidarity Committee, opened its doors, said Cassie Hurd, a spokesperson for the BHSC.
The group consists of worried citizens, service providers and those who are currently and formerly homeless, Hurd said. Together, members work to provide services for those who are homeless in the Greater Boston area.
Hurd said shutting down these programs minimizes stability and care for the homeless.
“The shuttering of these two transitional programs could have dire consequences for folks who have challenging healthcare needs and rely [on] the dedicated support and stability that these transitional programs provide while they get through the often lengthy and difficult process of identifying and attaining permanent housing and continued supportive services,” Hurd said.
Hurd said she believes the city should be able to find the extra amount needed, $800,000, to improve a situation that would have such disastrous effects for struggling Boston residents.
“The city’s decision to imminently close these two transitional programs … in the midst of the opioid epidemic, a public health crisis, is entirely unconscionable and unacceptable,” Hurd said. “It’s hard to believe [the city] cannot identify another funding source for the $800,000 that was cut to maintain these programs.”
City Councilor Annissa Essaibi-George advocated against Jackson’s proposal at the City Council meeting Wednesday. Essaibi-George applauded Jackson for speaking out on behalf of vulnerable citizens, but said shelters are not a permanent solution to the housing crisis.
“Shelters are not the solution,” Essaibi-George said. “They are just a stopgap for people in crisis.”
Instead, Essaibi-George said, the City of Boston has been using federal funding for housing to help homeless people find more permanent locations to live.
“What people really need is permanent support of housing,” Essaibi-George said. “In recognition of this fact, the funding landscape has been changing … shifting its sights and its money away from transitional housing beds and shelters toward a rapid rehousing model that helps people stay stable in their own homes.”
Because housing projects like Project SOAR and Safe Harbor are supported by federal funding, the number of shelter beds offered will stay the same, according to a statement from Boston Mayor Martin Walsh’s press office. There are the same number of beds at the Southampton Street Shelter now as there were before the cut of the transitional programs, and federal funding is still being used to offer HIV recovery services to those in need.
Several Boston residents said they understand Jackson’s issue with the closures and are concerned for what is to come next.
Dominique Smith, 31, of Dorchester, said it is imperative to help those who require assistance the most.
“There are so many people in our community that need help,” Smith said. “I have friends of friends who are suffering through things like this. I would hate to hear that they don’t have the proper care they need to support themselves.”
Meghan Leary, 29, of Brighton, said the city should find a way to provide funds for the homeless.
“I think it will have an adverse effect on the community and it will further hurt the homeless,” Leary said. “These are people who are already struggling as it is. I think someway, somehow, more money should be put toward these shelters.”
Ian Livingstone, 30, of Brighton, said shutting these programs does not align with Boston’s values.
“The fact that Walsh cut these programs completely disagrees with everything Boston stands for,” Livingstone said. “We’re a great city full of people who help each other out. This cut doesn’t follow suit.”
This article has been updated.
