Residents call to reallocate police funds to youth jobs, mental‑health responders and housing

Boston — Multiple residents and organizers told the Boston City Council Committee on Ways and Means on March 10 that the city should redirect portions of the police budget to youth jobs, housing subsidies and non‑police crisis response.

Carlise Manana of the Youth Justice and Power Union urged an immediate freeze on Boston Police Department budget growth, an independent audit of overtime and equipment spending within 90 days and a 10% cut to the police budget this year with funds moved to civilian mental‑health crisis response teams. "A crisis response team is simple: people who have mental health training, not weapons," she said.

Several youth speakers highlighted a decline in youth‑jobs funding — from about $27 million previously to roughly $22 million in recent budgets — while noting the police budget was cited in testimony at approximately $477 million. Joaquin Atala Gutierrez and others also noted a figure cited for police overtime (about $57.7 million) and the large number of young people who applied for summer jobs but were not placed.

Khalil Howe (Youth Justice and Power Union) presented a staffing analysis, saying BPD has about 2,143 officers and that Boston has more officers per capita than state and national averages; he suggested reducing officer counts and using the savings for housing and youth jobs. Michael Kane of the Mass Alliance of Tenants urged shifting city funds into housing subsidies and said the council has previously expanded a rent‑subsidy pilot to about $13.9 million/year, which currently supports roughly 600 formerly homeless people; he asked the council to add $3 million to expand the program.

Speakers framed the reallocation requests as community safety investments that would keep young people employed and connected to supports rather than increasing policing. The committee did not adopt any motion or take a vote; members said they would continue hearing from residents, and Councilor Worrell requested a working session on revenue to examine options for funding priorities.

Next steps: the council will continue budget deliberations after the mayor’s April 8 budget release, and the committee scheduled another listening session on March 24.