BOSTON – Representative Richard Haggerty (D-Woburn) and members of the Joint Committee on Housing recently toured the largest individual homeless shelter in New England – seeing first-hand the day-to-day operations that goes into aiding some of the state’s most vulnerable.
Representative Haggerty and members of the Joint Committee on Housing touring Pine Street Inn on 444 Harrison Avenue
Representative Haggerty, House Chair of the Joint Committee on Housing, was joined alongside Representative Hannah Bowen (D-) and staff from Senate co-chair of the Joint Committee on Housing Julian Cyr (D-Cape and Islands), Representative Michelle Badger (D-Plymouth), Representative Rob Consalvo (D-Boston), Representative John Moran (D-Boston), Senator Lydia Edwards (D-Boston) and Senator Patrick O’Connor (R-Weymouth), in touring the two-building campus with Pine Street Inn President and Executive Director Lyndia Downe and Vice President Kate Chang.
Pine Street Inn, established in downtown Boston in 1969, provides 535 beds and serves 2,100 people a day with emergency shelter, food and medical supplies, comprehensive job training, recovery services and housing court aid.
“It’s incredibly informative to join my legislative colleagues and Pine Street Inn to see the valuable resources our state provides for homeless individuals,” Representative Haggerty said. “Shelters and supportive housing like Pine Street Inn provide crucial housing and services for some of our most vulnerable residents who are just trying to get back on their feet after falling on hard times.”
“We had the great opportunity to host Housing Chair Representative Haggerty and were able to show him and other members and staff of the Joint Committee on Housing, what their support has done to work towards ending homelessness” Lyndia Downie, President & Executive Director of Pine Street Inn said. “We were able to share with them the full extent of the services we and our partners across the Commonwealth provide individuals facing homelessness and services we are only able to do in in thanks to the support of the legislature.”
Pine Street Inn has four emergency shelters within Boston, offering safe overnight shelter and access to meals and counseling, as well as 961 tenants across 38 supportive housing residences in Greater Boston. Its workforce development job training program provides job placements for over 150 individuals each year.
Massachusetts was one of the top five states nationally in reducing homelessness between 2020 and 2022, according to data by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
