As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, outreach programs to the homeless population in Downtown have changed dramatically over the past year.

Rosemarie Sansone, the president and CEO of the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District, said that the pandemic has presented new challenges for outreach workers.

“With the restrictions, with masking, the shelters have other restrictions and protocols that they need to follow now,” she said. “It has just become more challenging for everyone.”

Mary Ann Ponti, the director of outreach programs at St. Anthony Shrine, has changed her approach to outreach as a result of the pandemic.

She said that while prior to the pandemic her top priority would have been to encourage people on the street to get inside a shelter, the decreased capacities of shelters and very low prevalence of the virus on the street now has caused her to approach the situation differently.

“Sometimes it is better, if somebody is safe enough outside, just to monitor them and provide them services outside,” Ponti said.

Boston Police Captain Robert Ciccolo has focused on improving outreach to the homeless population since becoming the District Commander for Districts A1 (covering Downtown, Beacon Hill, Chinatown and the North End) and A15 (Charlestown).

One unique opportunity as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Police Department has not been preoccupied with certain responsibilities, Ciccolo said.

Without having to handle closing time at bars or to manage fans at sports events, the police have had more time and resources to direct toward harm reduction programs for the homeless.

At the same time, due to the the pandemic there is less foot traffic, which means that homeless people who rely on panhandling to afford food do not have as much money to spend on it.

“We don’t tend to think of the homeless having an income stream but many of them do, and with that income stream as disrupted as everybody else’s, it’s been generating a need for things like food services,” Ciccolo said. He added that some homeless people become more forward in their requests for money due to these dire circumstances, which generate more complaints to the police.

In response, Ciccolo put together a list of prepared food services in the area, which officers have saved as a PDF on their phones. Now when they receive a complaint about forward requests, they can send an outreach worker to inform the homeless person about where they can find food.

“That goes a long way toward de-escalating what can otherwise be a difficult situation,” Ciccolo said.

Medical outreach to the homeless has also changed due to the pandemic. Ponti said that with many shelters requiring Covid-19 tests, waiting in two-hour long lines for a test can be difficult for homeless people.

In response, some testing has been done on the street, and flu shots have also administered on the street.

“I’m still going out with a nurse practitioner to speak to the women on the streets,” she said. “The nurse was giving out flu shots this past fall on the street, whereas before maybe the flu shots would have been inside the clinic.”