What if You Aren’t Homeless Enough?
This is the shuttered salon, without running water, where a family of five was living after fleeing their apartment due to weeks of a neighbor’s harassment, and their car being vandalized. The family was deemed ineligible for state shelter or state resources because they have income and an existing lease. FamilyAid quickly stepped with privately funded support in to move the family to a hotel while helping them re-secure their housing.
“Are you and your children homeless enough?” That might seem like an odd question to most people, but for Massachusetts families experiencing a housing crisis, this question and its technical answer is difficult and often quite tragic.
As the nation’s only right-to-shelter state for homeless families, Massachusetts has – out of necessity – eligibility requirements to manage the flow of families in and out of shelters, including FamilyAid Boston’s current 123 shelter units.
Families qualify for shelter based on (1) their current housing status and (2) their financial status. In order to be eligible for shelter, families must have been either evicted from their current housing, living in a place unfit for human habitation like a car, emergency room, or police station; fleeing from domestic violence, or displaced by a natural disaster. A family’s annual income cannot be greater than 115% of the federal poverty level ($24,984 for a family of three), and their assets – like a car or savings account – must be under $6,000. For temporary housing supports like the state’s RAFT program (Rental Assistance for Families in Transition), that cap is $50,000 for a family of three.
Each year more than 4,900 Boston children and parents seek shelter, but more than 24% – or 1,100 – don’t qualify. The same is true for RAFT. In many cases, a family makes a dollar or more over the income limits, or a has an unstable living environment like being “doubled up” (living with another family, often in an over-crowded apartment, on the other family’s lease) that doesn’t quite meet the standard to be considered homeless. These families can’t access state shelter or housing resources; they just aren’t homeless enough.
With few options for help, many families continue to live in “doubled-up” situations, live in their cars, or end up boarding in hospital ERs. In moments of desperation, some choose a shelter roof over their heads, and reduce their work hours to meet the economic limit, thus exacerbating their family’s long-term instability. The Boston Public Schools (BPS) estimates that more than 1,800 BPS students and parents do just that every year.
And that’s where FamilyAid Boston steps in through its private-funded prevention and support programs. With flexible private resources and through its new partnerships with Boston Public Schools, Boston Children’s Hospital, and Boston Medical Center, FamilyAid is supporting families who don’t meet the state’s economic definition but are homeless by any human standard.
With foundation and donor support – and new BPS and MassHealth pilot programs – FamilyAid case managers and housing specialists are now helping to keep more than 1,500 children and parents who are ineligible for state shelters from falling further into the homeless abyss.
These programs are becoming oversubscribed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Massachusetts experiencing the highest jobless rate in the country with more than 300,00 residents not having enough money to pay next month’s rent.
In response, the City of Boston recently allocated 500 housing subsidy vouchers for BPS children and their families that are “doubled-up,” with FamilyAid Boston providing the leg work to help these families quickly move into safe, stable housing.
This fall, FamilyAid Boston is also launching privately funded homeless diversion and shelter programs that will be able to support another 100 families as the pandemic drags on and eviction moratoriums are lifted.
More than ever, Boston families in crisis need the compassionate care and housing expertise that FamilyAid has to offer.