The Future

But the present absence of definite, sizeable government action to aid the homeless seems to be disappearing. As a Shelter representative told the city councillors, it has recently become "chic" to help transients.

Gov. Michael S. Dukakis made assistance to the homeless one of the principal goals of his administration when he came into office last month. A bill he proposed to send $6 million to social service organizations passed in the State House of Representatives last week and is pending approval in the State Senate, says Kathleen K. Townsend, policy analyst for the state Office of Human Services.

Dukakis also formed an 82-member task force to examine the problem. The advisory group is presently compiling a report which will be sent to the governor's office this week, says Human Service's Chief Policy Analyst Nancy K. Kaufman. Cambridge does not have a representative on the task force.

Any recommendations made in the report will be considered at the task force's next meeting on April 28. "We've been trying to get away from the emergency response because we feel we have the emergency under control," explains Kaufman.

But some activists are uneasy about the scope of state involvement, questioning whether government will move beyond an advisory role. "I am very unclear why we didn't go further with what we were doing at the governor's meeting," says Steven Gary, a task force sub-committee member.

The City

Cambridge's most recent response has been to create a position of emergency service coordinator in the Department of Human Services. The coordinator will help transients who come to the human services office looking for temporary help.

City officials say the post has yet to be filled. But one of the coordinator's first jobs will be to provide a staff for the Salvation Army drop-in center.