Boston's Annual Homeless Census Held On Bitter Cold Night

BOSTON — On one of the coldest nights so far this winter hundreds of volunteers took to the streets to conduct Boston's 39th annual homeless census. The count is part of a larger census of homeless adults and families in emergency shelters, transitional housing and domestic violence programs.

"We have prioritized ending chronic homelessness since day one, and making sure that everyone has a place to call home," said Mayor Marty Walsh, who was out counting Wednesday night, too, according to a release.

This year, 330 volunteers canvassed 45 areas across every neighborhood, Logan Airport, and the transit and parks systems. Volunteers canvassed their assigned areas, identified those sleeping on the street and conducted a short survey. The surveys will be analyzed and cross-checked and combined with the results of the simultaneous shelter count.

The results from this year's homeless census will be available in the coming months, according to officials.

Last year some 1,779 individuals were using Boston's Emergency Shelter system, up from the 1,762 who were counted the year before. In 2018 Boston saw a decrease of about 12 percent in the number of people sleeping on the street. In January last year, there were 163 counted as sleeping on the street down from 186 in January 2017.

There were no families staying on the streets or unsheltered in Boston on the night of the census.

Boston's Way Home, the city's plan to end chronic and veteran homelessness was started in 2015. It focuses on ensuring anyone who enters the shelter system get on a path toward permanent and stable housing.

In 2017, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development named Boston the city with the lowest percentage of unsheltered people living on the street of any city conducting a census. Last year, fewer than 3 percent of Boston's homeless population was sleeping on the street. The annual homeless census is required by HUD as a key component of Boston's $26.3 million federal grant to support homelessness programs, according to the mayor's office.

In the past four years the mayor's office says the program has helped house 667 chronically homeless individuals, 915 homeless vets, partnered with six affordable housing owners to create a homeless veteran preference and created an action plan to support young people experiencing homelessness.

The mayor's office said it has also reduced chronic homelessness in Boston by 20 percent from 2016 to 2018, and by 46 percent from 2008 to 2018.

Walsh recently announced a legislative package submitted to the Massachusetts Legislature with bills related to housing security that would prevent homelessness by helping existing tenants, particularly older adults, stay in their homes and create additional funding for affordable housing.

"Besides providing critical insight to guide our efforts to end homelessness while offering immediately assistance to individuals in need of shelter, the homeless census is always an opportunity to embrace who we are as a community, the values we share, and how deeply we care about one another," said Walsh in a statement.

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