Press Room

Leading philanthropic organizations in the Commonwealth have come together to strengthen the support network for people in distress and to commit more than $1.6 million in new funding to address urgent needs of people affected by the ongoing economic crisis in Massachusetts.

Of the roughly 4,500 18-year-olds who will "emancipate" from care in California every year, one quarter will experience homelessness. Last year, Congress authorized giving states matching federal funds to extend foster care until age 21. But the way that law is interpreted could mean that in 27 states, including California and the District of Columbia, 18-year-olds would still be left out in the cold.

By draining money from the commonwealth and a normal home life from children and confidence in state government from taxpayers, few things say “failure” more than the practice of housing families in motel rooms.

Developer Larry Hamilton has been working for months to turn the empty Plaza Hotel south of downtown Dallas into homes for the homeless. But it's been much tougher than he imagined. Hamilton and other developers complain of roadblocks even as they try to carry out the city's goal of opening 700 apartments for the homeless by 2014. The housing, which would come with mental health and addiction services, is considered the most effective way to clear the streets of the hard-core homeless.

Congressional negotiators have agreed to allocate $50-million in the 2010 fiscal year for the new Social Innovation Fund, which will provide grants to help promising nonprofit groups expand effective programs — the full amount requested by President Obama. However, in a deal yesterday on the Corporation for National and Community Service budget, a House-Senate conference committee decided to trim spending on two other programs designed to help nonprofit groups — the Volunteer Generation Fund and the Nonprofit Capacity Building Program.

Despite the deep recession, most states have managed to safeguard and, in some cases, expand health coverage for children and parents in their Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Programs in 2009, according to a new survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. But the gains, which could serve as a base for covering millions more people under health reform, are threatened by the impending end of key federal assistance at the end of 2010 and before health reform coverage would begin.

Mayor Michael A. Nutter announced today that recent data show a significant decrease in the number of people living on the street in Philadelphia, as the U.S. Conference of Mayors releases its 2009 Status Report on Hunger and Homelessness.

Teeka Plummer is articulate, resourceful and persistent, but for six months, she has searched unsuccessfully for an apartment for herself and her three children. The reasons for the family's homelessness are unusual — they involve child abuse allegations that Plummer made against her former landlord — but their struggle reflects what Connecticut housing experts have long known: There is a massive demand for affordable housing and not enough resources to fill the need.

Danielle began her addiction to heroin as a teenager. Now, at the age of 24, she is clean and sober—and living on the streets of Chicago. She said she has been in and out prison for drug possession and stealing. After she cleaned up, she said she was determined not to go back to prison.

Governor David A. Paterson today announced that nearly $25 million has been awarded to fund homeless housing projects and related support services throughout the State.