Urban Housing

Massachusetts is changing to housing first, they are concentrating more on helping homeless people find a permanent home before helping them with jobs, food, etc. This relates to the articles we read on urban violence and parallel society/economy because I think it will help to reduce the large separation between rich and poor by creating more of a stable middle class. Especially when the economy is not doing very well now, I think this is a great step by the government to help clean up the city by reducing the number of people out on the street who contribute to violence, drug culture, and inequality. Through permanent housing these people can have government support and eventually find jobs to support their families instead of remaining on the street.
This is a little bit about what the MHSA aim to do...
The Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance (MHSA) is a non-profit public policy advocacy organization with the singular mission of ending homelessness in the Commonwealth. Founded in 1988 by a dedicated group of “first responders” working with unsheltered adults in Greater Boston, MHSA initiates solutions to move people out of crisis to permanence throughout Massachusetts.
MHSA is committed to ending homelessness by decreasing the dependence of homeless people on the government and creating options for exercising their self determination. MHSA persists in raising a sense of moral indignation that any person should be without a decent place to live. Through strategic partnerships formed with government, private philanthropy, service providers, homeless individuals, and businesses, MHSA works to ensure that homelessness does not become a permanent part of the social landscape.
Homelessness is a housing crisis that affects thousands of poor working people and those with disabilities, mental illness and addiction who cannot afford a place to live. As a result, the moral, social and financial costs of this crisis have soared as people rely on expensive emergency room and hospital visits, the correctional system and the streets. Emergency shelters are not an adequate response to this problem. Thus, MHSA and its partners seek to create permanent residential solutions to end this social disgrace.

-Katie