There is expected to be minimal cost savings. There are no plans to create new services, programs, or to add to the 800 shelter beds across both agencies, nonprofit executives said. There is also no immediate plan to expand the total number of people the two agencies assist.
Instead, the agencies’ leaders say the goal of the merger is to get more of the 1,700-plus men and women they serve daily into permanent housing, and to make the process of getting into a home easier.
“The more access to housing we can provide, the better,’’ said Mary Nee, who will step down from her position as hopeFound’s executive director to serve as a consultant during the transition. “We see people who are in the most vulnerable of situations . . . and, in that state, you don’t want to have to navigate a lot of different agencies to get the help and services you need.’’
In the summer of 2010, Nee said hopeFound was facing a dead end.
The results of a three-year strategic planning process showed the nonprofit, which generates around $10 million annually, was financially sound and was getting more of its guests into permanent housing.
But, the analysis said that under its current structure, the agency had little room to expand on its goal of getting more of the estimated 7,500 homeless in Boston into homes. The best long-term course to carry its mission would be a merger.
Nee called Lyndia Downie, the head of Pine Street Inn. They met for breakfast and the idea was well received.
The organizations, two of the largest homeless service agencies in Boston, share mutual goals and similar missions, serve the same population, and have few overlapping programs or services, according to the two leaders.
Each agency has its own strength. For instance, while Pine Street Inn specializes in job training, it has no job placement program. At hopeFound, there is job placement, but no job training. In fact, Downie said nearly 70 percent of those who go through hopeFound’s job placement program are referred by Pine Street Inn staff.
