Pine Street Inn, hopeFound Push For Merger

BOSTON — When we hear about business mergers we usually think of big corporations and phrases like “cost saving” and “bottom line.” But for two Boston organizations considering a merger, the word they use is “mission.”

The Pine Street Inn and hopeFound, two of the city’s most respected agencies tending to the city’s homeless, will announce their boards have given what they’re calling “a soft green light” to a plan to combine the organizations.

According to the agencies’ directors, Lyndia Downie of the Pine Street Inn and Mary Nee of hopeFound, they’re hoping a merger will make their organizations’ homelessness-fighting efforts more effective.

“We really want to look at ending homelessness, not just managing it,” Nee told Morning Edition’s Bob Oakes. “This is a real opportunity to streamline some of the services and to put complimentary services together.”

• Listen to the full interview