Father Bill's Place Home for Homeless

Not just shelter, but home, for the homeless
By Bella English
March 23, 2008
The homeless veteran, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, had been living in a tent behind a plaza in Plymouth for nearly a decade.

A woman struggling with serious mental health issues had been homeless for three years, in and out of shelters on the South Shore.

Thanks to the Housing First program started three years ago by Father Bill's Place, an emergency shelter in Quincy, the man and the woman - and many more like them - are now in their own apartments or lodging house rooms. For many, it is the first home they've had in years.

It makes good sense, giving the homeless homes. The hard-core homeless come off the grates, out of the woods and emergency shelters, and move into places of their own, with support services. It's both compassionate and cost-effective, since that population tends to cycle through expensive court visits, detox, jail, and/or hospital stays.

Father Bill's has been ahead of the curve in what is becoming a nationwide trend. Governor Deval Patrick has recently proposed spending $10 million to place thousands of homeless people in their own apartments or rooms over the next five years.

Though some of the chronically homeless don't make it on their own, the majority do. "The woman had been sleeping in a tent, off and on, for years," says John Yazwinski, executive director of Father Bill's, which merged with MainSpring in Brockton last summer. "When we first moved her into an apartment, she slept on the floor in her sleeping bag." She has been connected with mental health services and is reunited with her family.

The vet who pitched his tent in the Plymouth woods calls his new place "the Taj Mahal," says Yazwinski.
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