Mayor Walsh, volunteers canvass city to count homeless
It was the 36th year volunteers tried to count the homeless in Boston.
A squadron of 400 volunteers, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh among them, canvassed the city of Boston last night as part of annual count of homeless, The Boston Globe reports.
Walsh, in a group of about 20 volunteers, walked down Washington Street to meet those without homes and encourage them to seek city services, the Globe reports.
“Tell ’em the mayor of Boston sent you,’’ he told one woman who said she had difficulty getting medical treatment.
It was the 36th year that the count was conducted, and the data is vital for addressing the issues facing the hard-to-count population.
Last year, volunteers counted 7,663 homeless men, women, and children in Boston, a 5.6 percent increase from the year before [PDF]. Of that total, 139 were unsheltered homeless adults living on the streets, a decrease from the 180 counted the year prior.
This year’s numbers won’t be made official until a later date.
You can read the full story at The Boston Globe.
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