A Boston father says an intruder had access to his home for weeks while his two young children were inside.
It’s a story you’ll see only on Boston 25 News.
Matthew Hammond recalled hearing footsteps in the upstairs portion of his South End home that’s under renovation on Sunday around 7 a.m.
He said he saw a stranger walking out of his home after he called 911.
He believes that man stole a key from a lockbox, meant for contractors, three weeks ago.
“I was eating breakfast with my children. They’re 4 years old and 6 years old, and I looked outside and saw the belongings of someone who doesn’t have a home and didn’t belong in my home,” said Hammond. “As far as we know, he could’ve been in the house every night for three weeks.”
Boston Police arrested that man near Pembroke Street where another neighbor said someone broke into her car and slept in it this past weekend.
“Turns out, he had felony arrest warrants. He’d been in my home, feet away from my children,” he said. “We want everyone to have a home, but my home is not someone else’s home.”
Boston 25 News has reported on a string of recent break-ins in the South End involving intruders entering homes and making themselves comfortable.
Heightened concerns throughout the community and surrounding neighborhoods have some pleading for drastic action.
Growing calls for a new approach come on the heels of a recent federal executive order from the Trump administration that takes a law-and-order approach to homelessness.
The order, called “Ending Crime and Disorder on American Streets”, directs states and cities to criminalize unhoused people and expand indefinite forced treatment known as civil commitments.
It aims to prioritize federal funding for states and cities that enforce bans on camping, open drug use, loitering and squatting.
“I understand where some of this frustration is coming from, but the concern with this executive order is it’s just a punitive reaction, like get people out of here,” said Joyce Tavon, CEO of the Massachusetts Housing & Shelter Alliance.
Tavon told Boston 25 News she fears the order that targets “housing first” policies could make matters worse in a state where the number of people on the streets has doubled over the last decade.
“I’m really worried that we’re going down a bad path,” she said. “I don’t know how you force people into it and where we are forcing them into, when these options don’t even exist right now.”
Tavon said she feels civil commitments function like a “revolving door” without offering a pathway or solution.
She believes there’s a dire need for new housing as well as more effective pathways to housing and compassionate mental health treatment.
“Shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment through the appropriate use of civil commitment will restore public order,” states the executive order. “Surrendering our cities and citizens to disorder and fear is neither compassionate to the homeless nor other citizens.”
Hammond said he’s not sure what the answer is in a neighborhood where homelessness and public drug use are on display daily.
However, he believes it’s clear that the current strategy is not working.
“There are people coming in our homes where our children are. It’s absurd. It’s totally unacceptable,” he added. “If someone is openly breaking the laws, why is it acceptable in any community?”4 years old
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