Innovative, more humane homeless shelter for young folks opening in November in the area

[turil.livejournal.com]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2015/08/27/two-harvard-grads-want-change-the-way-help-the-homeless/7sUBFGwo1BNYOS7gpjjJ6M/story.html?p1=feature_stack_7_hp

It's in Harvard Square, and is specifically for young folks, and is run by Harvard students, apparently. It looks to be far more supportive and respectful than the other shelters in the area (of which I am unfortunately familiar). The bunk beds look really cool!

I had heard that the previous shelter run by students at Harvard was much better than the rest (but was really hard to get into). So this one will likely be good as well. Now we just need a bunch more of these to serve all the homeless and semi-homeless, rather than having to kick some people out on the streets even when they really want to be in the shelters...

Comments

[keithn.livejournal.com]

What are the existing shelters doing that is not supportive and not respectful? I don't know anything about them but I'm curious.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Basically they treat you as if you were a prisoner with a communicable disease, at least policy-wise. At least some of the workers are nice, but others are not. Overall you are likely to have your stuff stolen (by staff at least as often as by other clients), harassed, not get much sleep (between the noise, lights being on all night, and being kicked out by 7am), not be allowed to leave once you're accepted in (in the afternoon, usually), that is IF you are accepted in (which is where the prison part comes in). This means you can't have a social life, go to meetings of any sort, or otherwise do anything at all outside in the evening other than sit around at the shelter. And in the shelter I usually stayed at, which was one of the better ones, there was a lottery almost every day to get in, so at least once a month or so you'd be kicked out. There is no internet access at all there. No place to keep your food, if you want to keep your own food, because the food they serve is horrible for the most part (nutritionally and taste-wise) and they won't cater to food allergies or special diets. And just generally the goal of the system is for you to feel like a non-citizen who isn't worth anything, really.

Again, there are a few good staff members here and there, and they make it almost tolerable. But otherwise it's just plain degrading.

[turil.livejournal.com]

I never got to stay at the Harvard one (run by students), which I think it probably still running (though it only runs in the colder months, as far as I know). But I'm guessing that a volunteer run one is far better than one run by people who are doing it for money (as a paid employee) since they want to help, rather than feeling forced to be there. As for bad policies, it seems to be fairly universal, aside from the volunteer run places (I think the Harvard one is the only one).

I'm not sure there are any "public" shelters. They are all run by non-profits as far as I know. The one I mostly stayed at was St. Patricks in Union Square (Somerville) and it was officially run by Catholic Charities, but it was really run by one woman who was the director there. (And she was a really miserable person, and took it out on the guests as well as the staff.)

Of course, at least part of the problem is the laws and public policies that force shelters and others who want to help folks find homes or other spaces to live seriously get in the way. Trying to regulate these kinds of non-profit programs only makes it worse for everyone. Let them do what they want to do, in whatever way works for them given the needs of the people and the available resources, and things would go so much more smoothly!