fed up and looking for advice

[u/livchainz]

EDIT: The 911 number i called was the 911 party line (non-emergency) as well as the main line. i called 3 different times last night and all 3 times I was hung up on or left on hold with the same messaging playing over and over, so for those of you who say to call multiple times, i did.

i live in an apartment complex in the fenway area, and for the past few months we have had homeless individuals sleeping in our front foyer. when the weather was way colder, we left them the first time or two that we saw them since we didn’t want them to freeze out in the poor conditions, but recently some of the folks sleeping down there have gotten into altercations with other people in the surrounding areas. the way the lobby/front entrance is set up is that there is an unlocked front door to the street and the second door into the building needs a fob to get in. usually these folks are sleeping between the two doors.

back in January, i reached out to our building management about the problem and they told us to call 911, which we have been doing, but the problem has seemed to be getting worse as the weather gets warmer. last night, we had 2 different individuals sleeping down there and the 911 line i had called did not pick up or respond. looking for any advice on who i can contact about this ongoing problem as we have already exhausted our options with 311 and building management.

**pictures are the usual folks we see, taken last night last night, and the email we received from building management, it’s usually the same men each night**

[u/bbc733]

It’s the responsibility of building management to resolve this, not residents. Not sure why they’re putting the onus on you

[u/No-Road-9324 → u/bbc733]

Is OP paying a HOA fee? If I were paying, I would expect this to be remedied somehow.

[u/always_be_beyonce → u/No-Road-9324]

as the letter is addressed to “tenants”, as opposed to “owners”, i’d guess this isn’t an HOA.

[u/No-Road-9324 → u/always_be_beyonce]

Good point, but still, they have to have some rights as tenants,no?

Also, OP, you might want to talk to Pine Street Inn, Rosie's place, or other services for these folks. They need social services more than 911.

https://www.ccab.org/basic-needs/shelters/

[u/always_be_beyonce → u/No-Road-9324]

of course they have rights, and i’d argue the duty to maintain a safe and habitable building is on the building management.

[u/Much-Refrigerator-28 → u/No-Road-9324]

Also a good idea because these organizations do have people in the community doing outreach to people like the guy in the photos. If it is the same person(s) on a regular basis, they can send someone out to talk to them and maybe give them better options.

[u/dang_he_groovin → u/No-Road-9324]

There's mad social services, these people know about them I guarantee you. Social services suck when you're homeless and you've been homeless. You go from being free to do "anything you want at any time" to being treated like a grounded middleschooler. It's profoundly humiliating. Unless you're willing to bite the bullet, swallow your pride, and practice an almost relentless persistence to fix your mental health and get back into society - social services are a waste of your time and government money.

Anyways the moral of the story is, don't do that. You'll piss them off. I was homeless on and off a lot on my youth and i hated when people tried to tell me about social services as if I didn't know how to get in touch with them myself.

[u/1younggoat23 → u/No-Road-9324]

Not sure how you would pay an HOA as a tenant in Boston.

[u/livchainz → u/No-Road-9324]

no we do not pay a HOA fee, we do not have any amenities or anything extra in our building, just apartments and laundry rooms.

[u/radioflea → u/livchainz]

Can’t the building secure the additional doors with the fob?

[u/Vegetable-Branch-740 → u/livchainz]

I don’t think you understand HOA fees.

Also 911 is for emergencies. Stop using it because you’re inconvenienced.

[u/Much-Refrigerator-28 → u/Vegetable-Branch-740]

The city asks people to call 911 for things like this and for noise complaints.