Story & Photos by Marianne Salza
Chilly and raining, Lyndia Downie, President and Executive Director of the Pine Street Inn, anticipated a busy night at the shelter following her October 14 presentation during the Beacon Hill Women’s Forum (BHWF) meeting at the Union Club of Boston. Downie shared the journey that brought her to the Pine Street Inn, and the policies that have led to successful strategies used to combat homelessness in the City of Boston.
“We have an incredible board and great staff. I wish everybody could talk to someone who’s homeless and hear their whole story because you grow to love the folks who are struggling,” Downie implored. “They’ve been through horrific things; but are willing to keep trying and persevere.”
Downie was born in Scotland, immigrated to America with her family when she was seven-years-old, and grew up in Connecticut. After earning a degree in environmental science from the University of Vermont, she joined two college friends on their pursuit to Boston.
Fate seemed to be nudging her in the direction of the Pine Street Inn, a private non-profit organization founded by Paul Sullivan in 1969, ever since a friend who volunteered at the shelter suggested she accept a position there after applying to law school.
“My roommate at the time went to Boston College (BC), and we were sitting outside the apartment when she got a BC alumni magazine. There was an article about Paul Sullivan, who had just died. It was a story about the impact Paul had in Boston,” remembered Downie. “I tore the article out. A couple weeks later, I saw an ad in the Boston Globe, borrowed a dress from my roommate – because I didn’t own a dress at the time – and rode my bike from Brighton to the South End.”
What began as a six-month job in the volunteer and clothing donation departments developed into a 40-year career, serving in various roles that taught Downie how to work with people where they were, and help empower them.
“Where you see high rates of homelessness, for the most part, is where you have expensive housing markets. People who have any kind of disability, or any major, long-term crisis – it might be health issues, divorce, death of a partner – combined with high housing and disability level is what’s driving a lot of people into homelessness,” revealed Downie. “Homelessness is a horribly traumatic experience, on top of trauma you’ve already had.”
Over the past 15 years, the Pine Street Inn has been focusing on housing long-term guests first and then providing them with services to help them stabilize through the Housing with Support program, funded by federal and state aid, as well as the City of Boston’s US Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Downie noted that it is difficult to build site shelters in Boston, not only from a financial standpoint, but also because of zoning restrictions. She feels that if long-term guests can be placed in units elsewhere, then more individuals can stay at the shelter without having to add beds.
“We’ve got a robust movement into housing first. It’s a philosophy that you’ve gotta get people housed first so they can work on their other issues,” said Downie. “It is so hard when you’re on the street or in a shelter to work on getting sober, getting your mental health dealt with, getting a job, or getting healthcare. The challenges are enormous.”
Housing with Support guests, like Sam, have benefitted from the initiative that provides housing with services for mental and physical health, as well as substance use. Sam is a former resident who suffers from schizophrenia, with a fantasy about managing a telescope in Marblehead.
“There would be no requirements. No IDs. You didn’t have to be on meds. It was people that we knew either in shelter or on the street,” explained Downie about the beginnings of the Housing with Support program. “We agreed to let them in on a low-barrier basis. Over time, we would try to engage them.”
Before being admitted into Housing with Support, Sam would sleep on newspapers on the shelter floor every night from 3-5am before selling newspapers for the Boston Globe. He would not accept medicine or staffs’ suggestions to shower.
“Sam was lovely – never bothered anybody,” recalled Downie about the man who now lives in a nursing home. “We tried everything but could never engage with him or offer him housing.”
When Sam saw the small, unfurnished apartment on the sixth floor of the then newly-purchased building on Harrison Avenue, overlooking the bustling street, he became intrigued and settled in. For the first time in 25 years, Sam, a lover of classical music, slept deeply and felt secure.
“All he wanted was a safe place to stay, somebody to check in on him, and a place he felt comfortable enough to start getting sleep. These are small victories,” emphasized Downie. “He finally started doing things like making breakfast. He blossomed there. Housing first is for people like Sam, who had no other option and can manage himself. We were able to hook him up with healthcare and stuff he would have never done if he had been in shelter, and on the train to Marblehead.”
The Pine Street Inn is the largest provider of supportive housing for guests moving out of homelessness in New England, with 1,100 units today, and an additional 99 available in the next few months across four shelters and 39 housing locations throughout Boston and Brookline. The Pine Street Inn serves over 2,400 people daily through street outreach, emergency shelters, supportive housing, and job training. Downie, who holds honorary doctorates from institutions such as Boston College, Franklin University, and New England Law, Boston, is leading a plan to build 500 new units of supportive housing with 250 already in development.