Father Bill’s & MainSpring is transforming how our community responds to homelessness. While we remain committed to providing emergency shelter for anyone in need, we view shelter as a last response.
Through our housing resource service-delivery model, our goal is to engage with individuals and families early on and provide them with the personalized, targeted support they need, thus reducing length of stay in shelter, or avoiding it altogether. This reduces costs related to emergency systems of care.
Our wraparound supports produce better outcomes for those we serve. And we deliver our services with a cost-effective, results-based approach.
Our Response to COVID-19
Our services never stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic. We work with an immunodeficient population, including many elders, who are among the most vulnerable members of our community. During this crisis, FBMS continued to provide emergency shelter to more than 250 individuals and 130 families every night.
Early in the pandemic, we partnered with public officials and local organizations to open temporary shelter sites to help depopulate Father Bill’s Place in Quincy and MainSpring House in Brockton. For example, in Quincy, the gymnasium inside the South Shore YMCA Quincy branch provided extra space and additional amenities to approximately 50 guests from Father Bill’s Place from April to June 2020. In Brockton, several tents were erected outside of MainSpring House to serve approximately 60 individuals.
These quick and collaborative responses saved lives, as we saw the infection rates plummet once we opened up the satellite sites.
In June 2020, in partnership with local officials we began operating satellite shelter sites at hotels in Quincy and Brockton, replacing the sites previously located at South Shore YMCA and in temporary tents. We have purchased the Brockton hotel we are utilizing in order to convert the property into permanent supportive housing for 69 individuals experiencing homelessness.
We remained committed to operating satellite sites for the duration of this crisis. By opening up new sites, there was more space for guests and staff to follow social distancing guidelines recommended by the CDC and we had the flexibility to open up quarantine sites, if necessary.