Medicaid cuts force Boston homeless health care provider to reduce staff
The Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program , a nonprofit medical service provider for thousands of people who lack stable housing, is cutting staff and plans to close a recovery facility, a spokesperson confirmed Monday.
The program is laying off 25 employees. Among them are recovery coaches who work with patients facing addiction, according to the 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, a union representing some of the affected staff.
Union members plan to rally against the job cuts at noon Tuesday outside the nonprofit's headquarters on Albany Street in Boston's South End neighborhood.
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, an area often referred to as Mass. and Cass.
The nonprofit plans to close the Stacy Kirkpatrick House in Jamaica Plain , 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. Eighteen of the 25 laid-off employees work there, the spokesperson for Boston Health Care for the Homeless said.
The cuts will not affect the program's other respite center, the 104-bed Barbara McInnis House, which provides similar care at the organization's headquarters.
The spokesperson described the affected employees as clinical, administrative and support staff. She said the organization did not expect additional layoffs this year.
The moves were "difficult but necessary steps to address financial challenges and prepare for anticipated Medicaid and policy changes that threaten the sustainability of safety-net providers," Stan McLaren, the organization's CEO, told the Boston Globe in an interview.
President Trump's federal spending law, passed in July, is expected to cut federal Medicaid spending by $326 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
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.
The lay-offs will trim the organization's staff by about 4%, McLaren said.
"We have got to be strategic, especially with the population that we serve. We can't wait for this to come at us," McLaren told the paper. "In an effort to ensure that we're being proper stewards of our resources, we have to look ahead and plan and start to make adjustments."
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.
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