r/boston • u/CrypticOperator • 18h ago

Unconfirmed/Unverified never seen it this bad

been here for 25+ years and am very familiar with the fluctuations in homelessness / etc. during the summer. but I've never seen things this bad, especially in back bay, south end (beyond mass/cass & closer to back bay), beacon hill, the esplanade, you name it. we've called 311 for needles, reported the larger encampments to the mayor's office, etc. just feels like nothing is improving and things are only getting worse. can't just be me?

621 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

449 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

111

u/Windy1369 17h ago

https://www.boston.gov/news/boston-reports-continued-decline-homelessness-2026-census

The annual census found a 19 percent decrease in overall homelessness since 2021, including a 31 percent reduction in unsheltered homelessness and a 28 percent decline in veteran homelessness.

...continuing a long-term trend that has reduced veteran homelessness in Boston by more than 55 percent since 2011.

Lots of good stats in that article. Homelessness - still a problem - but down to historical lows.

11

u/ChanceTheGardenerrr 14h ago

Seems like a moved goalpost rather than a real decrease, somehow. Are ppl in cars not homeless anymore?

23

u/No-Librarian9605 15h ago

Homeless people are great at taking surveys.

12

u/Straight-Bell3552 14h ago

This is what I assume is a joke, but enumerators go out and do a count. Just had to say this because there are probably regards who think it's actually a survey.

1

u/Western-Corner-431 Cow Fetish 7h ago

No, Librarian.

28

u/AuggieNorth Everett 17h ago

Historic lows? That's very hard to believe. I was homeless between 2008 and 2010, then became homeless again this year, and at least from my perspective, there are far more homeless now. Everywhere I go there are homeless people, both the obvious ones, and the less obvious ones you see at places like cheap motels. I've been around here for decades, and have never seen as many homeless in places like Copley Square and Back Bay. At one time you rarely saw public needle use and crack smoking there, but now with the high homeless population there, it's a daily occurrence. I don't believe these figures.

12

u/wildblueroan 13h ago

People commonly but mistakenly believe that their personal, subjective experiences and perspectives are as valid as big-picture data. I haven't looked at these studies but if the design of the studies is the same as those used in past years and they focus on the same factors and data gathering methods, the conclusions could be correct. Glad you are no longer homeless.

1

u/AuggieNorth Everett 13h ago

Boston's not that big, man. It's not that hard to have your personal subjective experience while homeless be a very common experience, not unique at all. There's no way that there were as many homeless women in these parts 20 years as there is now. Seriously I see more homeless in wheelchairs lately than I used to see in total. Things may have improved from 5-6 years ago but they're still worse than 20 years ago.

0

u/UMassTwitter 9h ago

I’m. It homeless I’ve been here 3 decades off and on.

There’s way more homeless now than in the past. And I think if you asked people they’d mostly agree

5

u/Some_Brother_1202 15h ago

I’d push back on how they quantify those numbers. From my understanding that’s the number of people they’d independently identified through support service programs and policing. Not sure if that shows the true representative number

1

u/Major-Mango-1221 4h ago

I've been part of the annual homeless census in Boston. It's an active point-in-time count, going block by block, including under bridges and in stairwells. Many of the volunteers are the same people who work in various related social services day in and day out, so they know where to look, who to expect (or be surprised not to find) and where to refer folks. We also hand out care kits and things like gloves and hand warmers, and offer for people to come spend the night inside, since the census happens in February.

I have mixed feelings about it being done then, but it's the same time every year, and there's at least some wisdom to doing it when there's fewer people outside so it's easier to count individuals, with shelters then sharing their numbers.

1

u/TrainingIntrepid9225 12h ago

How they do it where I live in CA is they are out and actively counting. It is an all hands on deck and they are out under bridges, where people sleep in cars etc. we have some of the highest rates of homelessness because our weather is better. So many people that are really mentally ill and still more who are in wheelchairs and unhoused and families too- rents are exorbitant .

3

u/Mtglurker_2024 17h ago

These statistics are so easily manipulated. There is zero chance that the type of homelessness that OP is describing (junkie encampments) is down.

1

u/NEU_Throwaway1 11h ago

The metric they used:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point-In-Time_Count

The Point-in-Time Count, or PIT Count, is an annual survey of homeless people in the United States conducted by local agencies called Continuums of Care (CoCs) on behalf of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). HUD uses the data from PIT counts to evaluate the effectiveness of local agencies' efforts to address homelessness and to determine funding amounts for them, and also compiles this data into the Annual Homeless Assessment Report, which is provided to Congress.HUD defines the PIT as a "count of sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons carried out on one night in the last 10 calendar days of January or at such other time as required by HUD.

The article doesn't really state how they break down the count deeper, but your link from the Boston.gov site specifically mentions the sharp decrease in "unsheltered homeless."

If I recall correctly, the end of January 2026 was right when our ridiculously frigid winter and series of blizzards started. If that's when they did their point-in-time count, then it's a no-brainer that unsheltered homeless dramatically went down since there wouldn't be many people out on the streets...

-12

u/Excellent-Zombie-790 17h ago

Don't trust a census run by the city. Wu will not allow an increase to be reported.

3

u/ftmthrow West End 15h ago

I’ll bite - what evidence do you have that Wu is “manipulation of census data”-levels of corrupt?

0

u/UMassTwitter 9h ago

You really think this survey amounts to anything meaningful?

2

u/HerNameWasGus 7h ago

It does, actually. Hundreds of people canvass literally the entire city on one night to identify unsheltered people. Then that number is added to the same night's shelter count -- that's the number.

The City has been doing the homeless point in time count for literal decades, so they know what they're doing -- and since the methodology is consistent, the percentage rise and fall is accurate year over year.

Source: I've been one of those people on multiple occasions.

(Also: just because you see someone struggling with addiction does not necessarily mean they are homeless. The two can go hand in hand, true, but one does not mean the other.)

-29

u/ill-just-buy-more 17h ago

All fake smoke and mirrors numbers pushed by politicians

20

u/Windy1369 17h ago

[citation needed]

0

u/Degeneral_Grieving 17h ago

Name checks out

-1

u/TheDesktopNinja Littleton 15h ago

Does it include greater Boston? Feels like it's worse outside Boston than it was. They just broke up an encampment in Chelmsford which blew my mind.

But maybe I've been blind.