As I have said before, homeless people can work for the Pine Street Inn's laundry service, which generates revenue for the Pine Street Inn. However, homeless women who work for the Pine Street Inn aren't given saved beds, and none of the homeless women can use the washers and driers at the women's shelter to wash their own clothes. Even disabled, homeless women aren't allowed to use the washers and driers at the women's shelter, although there is no wheelchair-accessible laundromat within a feasible distance.
Homeless women are not allowed to use any facility at the Pine Street Inn to wash their own clothes.
I'll never forget the homeless woman who had cancer, who was undergoing chemotherapy, who worked for the Pine Street Inn and who was refused a saved bed because she had a drinking problem. There are no services at the Pine Street Inn to help people with their substance abuse issues; none at all. What you're given if you have a substance abuse problem but are also trying to work and be responsible is punishment. The people who drink or do drugs all day, who don't work and who can be back at the shelter in time for the bed distribution never have to worry about having a bed to sleep in. I'm not judging them; they have merely sunk to or remained at the level which is easiest for the Pine Street Inn's schedule and administrative competence.
Don't think that I don't hate Lyndia Downie, because I do. Jail does a better job of keeping people safe and sober than she does. Don't give me that "If people don't want help" nonsense. The shelters don't even try to help people stay sober; THEY DON'T EVEN TRY!
The Pine Street Inn is starving its own shelters of money for staffing, training, programming and repairs so that it can generate revenue from buildings where it will be a landlord. The "most vulnerable" are living in neglect and abuse every day while Lyndia Downie rakes in money and accolades after 20 years of failure to address the homeless problem in Boston.
Even after the director of the women's shelter replaced the softer chairs (except those used by staff) with hard, plastic chairs to try to make shelter guests "less comfortable," as if there's anything comfortable about being inches away from 120 people at all times, it's still standing-room only at dinnertime at that shelter. There's still a metal gate that opens and closes at mealtimes, as if the homeless women are livestock, even though there is another cafeteria in the building (for staff) which is more civilized. I don't even want to think about what the winter is like now at the women's shelter, with people sitting on those hard chairs for 12 hours at a time when it's too cold or they're too sick to go outside.
I have heard that the person who was hired to be the director of the women's sheler in 2014 is being transferred to another department. I'm sure the Pine Street Inn will answer all questions by blaming her, but the shelter system everywhere is a pompous, platitude-loving shambles.
