Investing in the Health of Boston's Unhoused
Collaboration between several Boston-based organizations highlights the immediate and long-term support cities can offer the unhoused.
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The intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard in Boston, known as “Mass & Cass,” is considered home to some of Boston’s unhoused population. These individuals struggle to access housing and treatment facilities for drug addiction. Within a 3-block radius of Mass & Cass, they can access multiple homeless shelters, the Boston Medical Center emergency room, needle exchanges, and methadone treatment clinics.
COVID-19 exacerbated the health challenges of unhoused individuals. Lacking the tools and information necessary to protect themselves, the unhoused community on Mass & Cass was particularly vulnerable to the pandemic.
In response, two local organizations, Housing = Health and We Got Us, in partnership with the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics-Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) initiative, provided health resources to curb the spread of COVID-19. Working alongside the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP), they established four outreach sites along Mass & Cass chosen after surveying more than 500 unhoused individuals.
Kareem I. King Jr. and colleagues, in affiliation with Boston University’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute and We Got Us, summarized the initiation and impact of their COVID-19 outreach program on the unhoused community near Mass & Cass.
As shown in the figure, between 2022 and 2023, over 3,000 unhoused individuals received support during 28 bi-weekly events. Volunteers offered COVID-19 vaccination and testing, as well as resource kits, including surgical masks, food, and seasonal necessities like sunscreen and winter gear.
The authors stress the importance of community feedback in establishing their program. During in-depth interviews with 40 individual persons who received service, interviewees often reported that distance to health centers posed a barrier to their care. These results encouraged the researchers to begin establishing a telehealth initiative for unhoused individuals.
The impact of Housing = Health and We Got Us highlights the importance of investing in the health of the unhoused during public health emergencies. Homelessness in Boston and across the U.S. continues to be a gnawing public health problem. The collaborations between BHCHP, We Got Us, and Housing = Health are promising reminders of the immediate and long-term support cities can offer to the unhoused.
