{"id":174240,"date":"2025-09-22T15:47:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T15:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/174240\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T15:47:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T15:47:07","slug":"boston-health-care-for-the-homeless-laying-off-25-workers-as-trump-medicaid-cuts-loom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/174240\/","title":{"rendered":"Boston Health Care for the Homeless laying off 25 workers as Trump Medicaid cuts loom"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"BNMFMOYTIJBITPUUOKZUFRUT7Y\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.masslive.com\/boston\/2025\/07\/bostons-homeless-doc-jim-oconnell-says-crisis-has-never-been-worse.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.masslive.com\/boston\/2025\/07\/bostons-homeless-doc-jim-oconnell-says-crisis-has-never-been-worse.html\">Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program<\/a>, a nonprofit medical service provider for thousands of people who lack stable housing, is cutting staff and plans to close a recovery facility, according to a union representing some of its staff.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"HEGFGU4VKVAZRK6WXZQHYUKCYY\">The program is laying off 25 employees, including recovery coaches who work with patients facing addiction, the 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"OLMW2MXLBRHTBCVHX4O7KPQRMQ\">Union members plan to rally against the job cuts at noon Tuesday outside the nonprofit\u2019s headquarters in the South End.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"APL6EVOYMNCWBHGILYW3HJLTLI\">The union said the cuts risk worsening the twin homelessness and substance abuse crises plaguing the city, particularly in the area surrounding the headquarters, near where Massachusetts Avenue meets Melnea Cass Boulevard. The area is often referred to as Mass. and Cass.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"Q7DTBY56HFARXDT4PVX6TND6FY\">The nonprofit plans to close <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bhchp.org\/services\/medical-respite\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.bhchp.org\/services\/medical-respite\/\">the Stacy Kirkpatrick House in Jamaica Plain<\/a>, a 20-bed medical respite center where patients can recover from hospital stays, injuries and illnesses as they transition from round-the-clock care to shelters or other housing. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"JKOMGIHGLNAUXLBIDDTTGZDVBQ\">The program also operates a 104-bed medical respite facility, the Barbara McInnis House, providing similar care. The facility is located on Albany Street in Boston\u2019s South End neighborhood.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"PFFGBC3ULVDG3CQ63LFGDVUWRQ\">A spokesperson for Boston Health Care for the Homeless did not immediately return a request for comment and confirmation on the details of the cuts.<\/p>\n<p>Read more: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.masslive.com\/boston\/2025\/07\/bostons-homeless-doc-jim-oconnell-says-crisis-has-never-been-worse.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.masslive.com\/boston\/2025\/07\/bostons-homeless-doc-jim-oconnell-says-crisis-has-never-been-worse.html\">Boston\u2019s homeless doc Jim O\u2019Connell says recent crisis among \u2018the toughest\u2019 he faced<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"SKPJCWJFUFBZTKEUNIU3PX7MFU\">The moves were \u201cdifficult but necessary steps to address financial challenges and prepare for anticipated Medicaid and policy changes that threaten the sustainability of safety-net providers,\u201d Stan McLaren, the organization\u2019s CEO, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2025\/09\/19\/metro\/boston-health-care-homeless-budget-layoff\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2025\/09\/19\/metro\/boston-health-care-homeless-budget-layoff\/\">told the Boston Globe in an interview.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"QLEPOVJRPZHZDB34DMHEQJX5ZU\">President Trump\u2019s federal spending law, passed in July, is expected to cut federal Medicaid spending by $326 billion over 10 years, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/medicaid\/health-provisions-in-the-2025-federal-budget-reconciliation-law\/#2ca666ac-5d15-4454-8973-241566e22bb5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/medicaid\/health-provisions-in-the-2025-federal-budget-reconciliation-law\/#2ca666ac-5d15-4454-8973-241566e22bb5\">the Congressional Budget Office.<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"AR52BSOVQVAZHP6OIZQATHZJBM\">Boston Health Care for the Homeless, which receives about 75% of its funding from Medicaid, is staring down a $7 million drop in revenue next year, according to the Globe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"CV3FZ5V5AZAIBPSBIW4NPZRBLY\">McLaren said the affected employees include administrative, clinical, and support staff and represent about 4% of the organization\u2019s personnel. The organization does not expect additional layoffs this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"4QZLTGEWXZFPVBEMCPQCAUFMCM\">\u201cWe have got to be strategic, especially with the population that we serve. We can\u2019t wait for this to come at us,\u201d McLaren told the paper. \u201cIn an effort to ensure that we\u2019re being proper stewards of our resources, we have to look ahead and plan and start to make adjustments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"ZEMWVWRCSFBZBCCAVKYG4FJ3HU\">Founded four decades ago, Health Care for the Homeless today treats nearly 10,000 adults and children on the streets and at more than 30 clinics around the city. The organization provides a variety of services, including medical, dental and behavioral care; medical respite services like those at the Barbara McInnis House; and case management.<\/p>\n<p>If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.advancelocal.com\/advancelocalUserAgreement\/user-agreement.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.advancelocal.com\/advancelocalUserAgreement\/privacy-policy.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, a nonprofit medical service provider for thousands of people who&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174241,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":["post-174240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}