Eighth Annual Interfaith Homelessness Forum

How Homelessness Hurts Children’s Health
And How You Can Help

Eighth Annual Interfaith Homelessness Forum
Sunday, March 11, 2012, 3:00-5:00pm, Trinity Episcopal Church, 81 Elm St., Concord

Family homelessness remains a severe problem in Massachusetts. Over 42,000 families sought
state housing assistance in the year ending July 2011, 30% more than in 2010. Expectant
women experiencing homelessness are 30% more likely to deliver pre-term and 50% more
likely to have low-weight babies. Children living without permanent housing are 70% more likely
to have developmental delays and 50% more likely to be in poor health than children who enjoy
stable housing.

Learn what we can do to protect children’s health by sustaining the state’s successful
Homelessness Prevention Program NOW AT RISK due to limits in state budget funding.

Speakers will be Dr. Megan Sandel, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Public Health
at Boston Medical Center and a nationally recognized expert on housing and child health;
Robert Pulster, Associate Director, Department of Housing Stabilization, Mass. Department of
Housing and Community Development; a formerly homeless mother; and a panel of area state
legislators. The forum, organized by the Advocacy Network to End Family Homelessness, is
free and open to all.