Homeless People

Eddie Vega has been homeless for a year. He was waiting for a bus one day last week when a police officer rolled up to ask what he was doing and where he was headed. Vega said it's the kind of subtle harassment that happens all the time. "I get the looks," said the 31-year-old Providence man, squinting because he recently lost his glasses in a fight that also left him with stiches on his forehead. "It's the same hassle everywhere. Happens every day. There's nothing you can do. You speak up and you get in trouble.

Eddie Vega has been homeless for a year. He was waiting for a bus one day last week when a police officer rolled up to ask what he was doing and where he was headed. Vega said it's the kind of subtle harassment that happens all the time. "I get the looks," said the 31-year-old Providence man, squinting because he recently lost his glasses in a fight that also left him with stiches on his forehead. "It's the same hassle everywhere. Happens every day. There's nothing you can do. You speak up and you get in trouble.

Walter Pollard is clearly a man who's not used to losing. That is a problem right now, because Pollard is in a battle in which victories have been hard to come by. Pollard leads a small band of Jamaica Plain residents bent on stopping a popular project: a bid by Boston Health Care for the Homeless and the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation, both nonprofits, to build 20 units of housing for sick and homeless people at the site...

A federal grant will allow Harbor Homes to triple the size of its health care clinic for the homeless. The three-year-old Harbor Care Health and Wellness Center currently has a staff of one physician, two registered nurses, a psychiatrist, a nurse practitioner, and a social worker. It serves about 900 homeless people at a two-room clinic on High Street. The $4.9 million grant from the Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources and Service Administration will allow the facility to hire more doctors and expand the clinic.

Homeless people would have greater protection against housing and employment discrimination under legislation introduced by a state lawmaker. Senator John Tassoni, a Democrat, said yesterday that the Homeless Bill of Rights would help ensure that homeless people are not treated unfairly when it comes to renting an apartment, voting, applying for public services, or finding a job. The bill has been introduced in the Senate, where it awaits a hearing....

Massachusetts is getting a $60 million boost from the federal government to help provide housing to homeless people in the state. U.S. Sens. John Kerry and Scott Brown announced the funding on Tuesday, saying it is part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Continuum of Care grant program. The funding is intended to be used to help provide transitional and permanent housing and supportive services to homeless people across Massachusetts. Kerry says the sometimes harsh winter months are particularly difficult for people without homes and the extra federal...

Rhode Island’s highest court has denied an appeal of a lower court’s order removing a group of homeless people from a tent city in a public park in Providence. The Rhode Island Supreme Court ruled Friday that attorneys for the homeless people hadn’t shown on what grounds the court should consider the appeal. In 2009, a Providence Superior Court judge ordered the residents to leave the park, which they did. Attorneys for the tent city residents argued that the order should be overruled because their clients were allowed to remain anonymous and a judge can’t issue an...

Tomorrow from 6 to 8 p.m. is the opening reception for an art exhibition organized by the Community Day Center of Waltham that explores the multiple dimensions of homelessness. "Faces," an interactive display, and "Homelessness from Our Eyes," featuring photos taken by homeless people, will be open through March 30 at the Belmont Media Center, 9 Lexington St. in Belmont. - Megan McKee

It's Sunday around noon and a line forms that winds around the towering bronze Brewer Fountain in a corner of Boston Common. Weary-looking men and women shuffle forward, making their way toward the folding card tables, where a dozen teenagers hand out carefully wrapped sandwiches and bags of potato chips. It is the end of the month, and many of these people's food stamps have run out. Walking by, you might mistake the whole thing for a soup line. The cast of characters seems right: the long line of the downtrodden, carrying their belongings on their backs or in tattered bags; the...

DENVER - A dirty, disheveled Keith Peeler had been living on the streets for nearly a year when a crew of 20-somethings with cameras jumped out of a van and headed straight for him. Some of Peeler's homeless buddies wanted to run. But the young people had an offer: $10 a day, plus close to minimum wage, to appear on what they were calling "Homeless Real World," an Internet spoof of MTV's reality show. Peeler and his pals took the cash. Over several weeks, the producers of the show had the cast members compete to build the best cardboard...

A Cape Cod church that also served as a shelter for the homeless suffered extensive damage in a late-night fire. The three-alarm fire at the Calvary Baptist Church was reported at about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. Fire Lieutenant Robert Hennessy told WXTK-FM that it took about 90 minutes to put the fire out. One firefighter suffered minor injuries, but none of the homeless people staying in the church were injured. The cause remains under investigation. (AP)

WALTER POLLARD, the Jamaica Plain homeowner suing to prevent a facility nearby to house sick and homeless people, is making a spectacle of himself ("Heading for home," Adrian Walker, Metro, March 5). Thirty years ago this downtown banker probably would have been too terrified to walk through his neighborhood. Franklin Park, like those poor and ill homeless individuals, was rehabbed by a combined community effort, largely powered by volunteers with the help of the city. The Franklin Park Coalition, the Black Ministerial Alliance, Drop a Dime, the Boston Ten Point...

Walter Pollard is clearly a man who's not used to losing. That is a problem right now, because Pollard is in a battle in which victories have been hard to come by. Pollard leads a small band of Jamaica Plain residents bent on stopping a popular project: a bid by Boston Health Care for the Homeless and the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation, both nonprofits, to build 20 units of housing for sick and homeless people at the site...

Tomorrow from 6 to 8 p.m. is the opening reception for an art exhibition organized by the Community Day Center of Waltham that explores the multiple dimensions of homelessness. "Faces" allows visitors to the Belmont Media Center to delve into the lives of the homeless and other individuals who are visitors to the Community Day Center, a daytime drop-in facility at 34 Alder St. for people who need a warm place or help accessing social services. In addition to "Faces," which invites visitors to touch faces on computer screens to learn about the individuals, there will be a photography show,...

BELGRADE, Serbia - Serbia was struggling to keep its power system going, officials warned yesterday, after weeks of record low temperatures in Europe that have snarled traffic, frozen rivers, and challenged officials to step up outreach to the vulnerable homeless. The Serb state power company said its system cannot hold on for much longer and authorities urged citizens to save electricity in an appeal aired on national television. Europe's big freeze has claimed hundreds of lives, mostly of homeless people, while tens of thousands of residents remain trapped in remote villages in Bosnia...

BELGRADE - A severe cold snap across central and eastern Europe has left at least 36 people dead, cut off power to towns, and snarled traffic. Officials opened shelters and took other steps to aid people, particularly the homeless and elderly. This part of Europe is not unused to cold, but the current freeze, which spread to most of the region last week, came after a period of relatively mild weather. Many were shocked when temperatures in some parts plunged to minus 4 yesterday.

MassHousing has awarded $300,000 to create and preserve affordable sober housing in Brockton, Lowell, Springfield, and Worcester. Of that total, Brockton will receive $75,000 to help create six new units of affordable sober housing for women at the Edwina Martin Recovery Graduate House. "Having an affordable place to live in a sober setting is critical for people trying to overcome substance abuse," said MassHousing executive director Thomas R. Gleason. "By helping to provide the resources they need to overcome addiction, these men and women can return as healthy and productive members of our Commonwealth.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A string of beatings of three homeless men in Fort Lauderdale in a single night last week has cast a spotlight on a brand of crime that activists say has practically become sport among young people around the country. Police say the attacks were carried out by a group of teenagers who piled into a car with baseball bats, a golf club, and a paintball gun and went looking for homeless people to beat. "I wish I could say this was shocking and appalling, but it's not. We see it all the time," said Laura Hansen, executive director of the Broward Coalition for the...

The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded $2.2 million to help local efforts to help homeless people. The amount given to the Somerville-Arlington Continuum of Care is the biggest in recent years, Somerville officials said, up from $1.9 million in 2008. The grant provides funds for permanent and transitional housing, case management, job training, money management classes, health care, mental health, and other services. The competitive award is part of nearly $1.47 billion in federal funds distributed this year, the city said.