Western Massachusetts got an early glimpse of a new white paper on family homelessness two weeks ago, when Dennis Culhane presented at our Network event. Yesterday, the paper was officially launched, with an article in the Boston Globe, and a presentation at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Boston.
Click to see the actual documents: the Executive Summary, and the full report Ending Family Homelessness in Massachusetts: A New Approach for the Emergency Assistance Program.
The event at St. Paul’s was sponsored by One Family, Inc. and the Fireman Foundation. Dennis Culhane presented the paper, and then a panel responded. The panel was Bob Pulster (DHCD), Grace Carmack (Central Mass Housing Alliance), Dennis Carmen (United Way of Greater Plymouth County), and me (City of Springfield). It was a good beginning to the conversation about policy change that would support a broader shift to a Housing First system for families in Massachusetts.
