"Many give much of themselves to help the homeless. Take Mike Jellison. He knows about drug addiction, familial estrangement, prison, and recovery and brings it all to bear on his work as a recovery coach. And Katherine Koh. The Harvard Medical School assistant professor of psychiatry works with Jellison to help unhoused clients as part of the street team at Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program."
"But he also noted that solving the crisis was beyond the reach of nonprofits like his, and requires government and corporate America to step up. "We can take care of people; we can't cure them," said O'Connell, whose work with Boston's homeless people was the subject of author Tracy Kidder's 2024 book, "Rough Sleepers." "We want to fix things, but we can't fix things unless we work with all of you.""
The two-day "Beyond Shelter Deep Dive" convened leaders from business, government, and academia at Harvard Business School and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences to focus on America's persistent homelessness problem. Sessions outlined the issue's dimensions and traced historical roots back to Colonial times while showcasing innovations like modular housing. Frontline recovery coaches and street teams provide behavioral-health and housing navigation for unhoused clients, but nonprofit capacity alone is insufficient. Presenters highlighted corporate efforts such as Amazon's Affordable Housing Fund and municipal program models like Denver's that have reduced unsheltered homelessness. Advocates urged expanded public-private collaboration to scale solutions.
Read at Harvard Gazette
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