While the number of homeless individuals in Massachusetts declined by 8% between 2018 and 2019, the general trend since 2007 has been a 22.1% increase in homelessness. Massachusetts also has very high rates of homelessness among families, with a 79% increase in people in families with children experiencing homelessness between 2007-2019. 2019 HUD Annual Report to Congress.
In the spring of 2020, as the US shut down from the coronavirus pandemic, Citylife launched its weekly food drop off with L Street Mission in Brockton, and then with the Somerville Homeless Coalition. In 2023, we added Pine Street Inn to our partners.
We have served thousands of meals, donated masks when none could be found, helped organize supply closets, held community hygiene pack parties, and simply tried to be present and committed.
As we try to be sensitive to how God might be calling us to continue engaging with the chronically impoverished and at-risk, we are grateful for the relationships we have built and the ways we have grown through the experience.