Homelessness and Housing

Millions are raised through government grants and star-studded galas, yet Baltimore's homeless services have been mired in bureaucracy and increasingly-harsh policy prescriptions, including encampment razing. Meanwhile, curled up in doorways and on friends' couches, thousands in the city still lack a place to call home.

Activists plan protest when Ben Carson visits Baltimore tomorrow

The neurosurgeon-turned-HUD-Secretary is scheduled to speak at an East Baltimore school.

Why Harbor Taxi “bike lids” were moved to Druid Hill Park

Homeless people were using the plastic covers for shelter and storage.

After a rocky start, Pugh assembles a “workgroup” on homelessness

Panel is to give Baltimore’s mayor an action plan in 60 days

“Winter sheltering” for homeless extended through end of March

Baltimore makes extra beds available when the temperature drops to 32 degrees or below.

Pugh “working on plan to address homelessness,” a spokesman says, after camp clearing

Six people moved from tents along MLK Blvd. to a hotel have received a commitment for housing vouchers, city reports.

Homeless camp clearing proceeds under advocates’ watchful eye

City promises to find MLK tent dwellers permanent housing. Attorney: “We’ll hold them to it.”

City to raze and fence off another homeless camp

Advocates “very disappointed” that this is new administration’s first act on homelessness.

Remembering those who died homeless, looking to City Hall for help

At the annual ritual, speeches and hope that a new administration will move beyond platitudes.

Elderly and homeless, stabbing victim had a name and a story

After years of hard times, things were looking up for Andras “Andy” Horvath.

Sharp spike in homeless deaths a focus of vigil tonight

Advocates report a 62% increase in the number of homeless people who died in Baltimore in 2016.

Life on the streets of a frigid Baltimore

For some, there’s no house, no bed and nothing more than a blanket.

Homeless brave the cold as city struggles with fewer outreach workers

There are 275 extra beds for the homeless tonight, but fewer outreach workers mean that many will still sleep in the streets.

Is Baltimore prepared to handle the homeless this winter?

Advocates hope Mayor Pugh makes a complex homeless shelter system work better.

Homeless man’s death outside City Hall spurs call for mayor’s help

With the temperature plunging, advocates for the homeless ask Baltimore’s new mayor to declare a “state of emergency.”

Mayor’s push to privatize homeless services nixed by providers’ group

United Way was ready to take over, but providers were wary of giving a private entity control of public dollars.

A poignant – and pointed – memorial for homeless persons who died in Baltimore

Remembering when they lived outside under an old quilt, thinking of those who died living on the streets of Baltimore, people came together last night to pray, sing – and exhort the city to do more to help those who are homeless.

City to open winter shelter to house homeless persons at higher temperatures

A city official says the zero-degree threshold for sheltering homeless persons was never approved by the mayor and was the result of “bad communication” at a meeting. BOTTOM LINE: City plans to open winter overflow shelter when temperatures drop below 32 degrees, not below 0 degrees.

City had plans to make zero degrees the trigger to shelter homeless people this winter

“It’s outrageous,” one homeless service provider said yesterday. “How would people on the streets even know something is open when it’s zero degrees?” “They would be frozen by the time they would know,” another person replied.

Mayor agrees to delay razing of Fallsway homeless encampment

After blistering criticism from her own advisory board – and a group of service providers at a meeting today – Rawlings-Blake said she would hold off on a plan to roust another group of people from their roadside tents, saying she is already working to improve the process of housing voucher distribution.

Stop clearing encampments, mayor’s panel on homelessness tells her

Decrying the fact that over 200 housing vouchers are not being used, the “Journey Home” board called for a moratorium on the razing of encampments until the city fixes what members said was a flawed process for distributing the vouchers to homeless people.

By razing encampments, Baltimore is abandoning a strategy against homelessness that worked

Understanding why the residents of St. Vincent de Paul Park chose a 19th century life in tents over a city shelter – and finding them a permanent place to live without judging their lifestyles – actually worked, an advocate recalls. Why, she asks, did officials drop the policy known as “Housing First?”

Evicted from MLK Blvd. encampment, homeless say they have nowhere to go

The city had trash trucks, city workers and police coordinated Friday to clear homeless people from an encampment on the west side of Baltimore. One thing they hadn’t done, people there said, was find some place for them to go or warn advocates about what was going down.

Housing the homeless in Baltimore’s vacants

HUD report decries city’s management of homeless funds, but says no fraud found

There have been wild rumors regarding what happened to a federal homeless grant that the city is now partially repaying. Based on our review of the full (and so far unreleased) HUD report, we move past the blame game.

Baltimore set to repay $4 million in misspent homeless funds

After all the finger pointing and denials, the city is forking out $3.7 million in hard cash to pay back the federal government for mishandled homeless money that was awarded as part of President Obama’s 2009 stimulus program. It’s another example of what can happen to the city that never audits.

Mayor and homeless providers praise grants faulted by HUD

Catholic Charities executive director today called HUD’s decision to order repayment of $3.7 million in homeless grants “atrocious,” while other non-profits rallied around Mayor Rawlings-Blake, who defended her administration’s handling of the grant money.

Documents show: HUD last year ordered review of 64 homeless grants

The federal government became so concerned with how the Mayor’s Office of Human Services was administering homeless programs that it ordered an “auto review” of $23 million in homeless grants, documents obtained by The Brew show.

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HUD tells city to repay nearly $4 million in misspent homeless funds

The federal government downsizes its demand for misspent homeless funds by Baltimore City. Still, the $3.76 million ordered by HUD in a nearly final report is larger than any similar request from another city and an embarrassment to the mayor’s homeless agenda.

Questions but no answers on mismanaged homeless services grant

A meeting to introduce new board members for the mayor’s “Journey Home” initiative veered off script when questions – unanswered for a year – were asked about a federal audit accusing the city and United Way of Central Maryland of not properly handling the funds.

City reserves $7 million to repay mismanaged federal homeless grant

A year ago, the city said it would prove that “no waste, fraud or abuse” happened during its administration of a $9.5 million homeless grant. Now the city is preparing to return a sizable chunk of that money back to the federal government.

People sleeping once again at homeless camp the city cleared in March

Calling “Camp 83” a health and safety hazard, the city evicted 15 people living outdoors by a downtown JFX on-ramp and hauled their make-shift dwellings to the dump. These days a smaller group of people are living at the same spot.

Could you pass the Homelessness Challenge?

It’s like combating the flu with Kleenex, say the authors, of Baltimore’s attempts to hide the visible evidence of poverty and homelessness through tougher anti-panhandling laws. Perhaps putting the powerful into the shoes of the homeless, just for a day, could open up their hearts.

Changes in store for city homeless shelter under Catholic Charities

After two years of criticism by occupants of Baltimore’s homeless shelter – and a fatal stabbing – the center will be placed under the operation of Catholic Charities, which is planning some major changes. “Cherishing the divine within” is the group’s guiding principle.

Catholic Charities set to run city’s oft-criticized homeless shelter

Another homeless camp under JFX to be “cleared?” Or “cleaned?”

With the Baltimore Farmers’ Market resuming under the JFX this Sunday, the homeless who share space there with fresh produce and cheese sellers are preparing for a rugged weekly ritual – a city truck that removes their belongings and hoses down the area. Is the city going further this year?

Briddell and Singer square off on homeless policy in Baltimore

Why can’t the city do a better job getting people out from under bridges and out of doorways? Are they offering lame excuses or up against insurmountable challenges? This radio conversation between a city official and a longtime advocate kind of got down to it.

Housing the homeless in vacants – why not?

City reserves right to clear homeless camps before residents are resettled

Modern-day versions of “Hoovervilles,” the name for shanty towns built by the homeless during the Great Depression, are cropping up in Baltimore. Following last week’s razing of one such camp, the city has disclosed its “protocol” for dismantling homeless encampments.

The way to end the tragedy of homelessness: permanent housing

Why are people sleeping under bridges in Baltimore? It’s because the city has opted for unsafe and unsanitary emergency shelters to house the homeless rather than the more humane and effective solution of permanent housing, the director of a homeless advocacy group argues.

Housing found for homeless “campers” facing city eviction

Yesterday, homeless advocates and Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke came up with temporary housing for the residents of Camp 83, on the eve of the deadline this morning for eviction. Expect some advocates still angry over the city’s handling of Camp 83, and police prepared to arrest any lingering “campers.”

Clarke seeks reprieve for homeless “Camp 83”

Hope and a haven for a neglected population – homeless teenagers

As sub-freezing weather strikes Baltimore, consider the fate of one of its least served populations – homeless teenagers. About one in seven people experiencing homelessness in Baltimore is under 25. A new drop-in center on Charles Street offers them a safe space and a helping hand.

Police break up homelessness sleep-out, but “nicely” this year

Outside City Hall: tonight, homelessness activists to hold “sleep-out”

Homeless told to leave city shelter for two hours

City to add 75 beds to emergency homeless shelter

A homeless man’s story: jobs, jail, a stroke and “one bad thing after another”

Along with his wife, 62-year-old Linwood Hearne, known as “the old man,” sleeps outside in front of the Health Care for the Homeless building just five blocks from City Hall. We trace the path that led him to “the porch.”

Homeless have been sleeping on clinic’s porch for months

It’s heart-wrenching for Health Care for the Homeless and a bit awkward – a steady stream of people have been sleeping outside its building on “the porch” since summer. What does this say about the severity of the homeless problem and Baltimore’s ability to handle it?

Homeless sleep outside of Health Care for the Homeless building

There’s been a threatened lawsuit about city homeless services, a solidarity sleep-out vigil dispersed by police and a City Council hearing where city officials said homeless shelters are meeting the demand – and yet people are still sleeping out in the cold.

VIDEO: Homeless Persons Memorial Day in Baltimore

Inside City Hall: Contractor protests his own bid, 34 cost overruns for new homeless shelter

Why the new shelter is smaller than the old one, and other homeless stories

The $8 million Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Housing and Resource Center has lots of amenities like game tables and a rooftop garden, but not enough beds – especially for women – to handle this winter’s demand by the homeless, critics say. Why one woman prefers Occupy Baltimore to the new facility.

Why I wanted to sleep-out for the homeless

Those attending the homelessness “sleep-out” Saturday – broken up by police outside of City Hall – have been described as troublemakers and Occupy Baltimore allies. A participant says they were really just people wanting “to be partners in solving the city’s enormous and embarrassing homelessness epidemic.”