Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance

The Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) Rapid Re-Housing program is designed to help individuals or families experiencing homelessness move as quickly as possible into independent housing through a combination of rental assistance and supportive services. The program is funded by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) and administered by the Massachusetts Housing &Shelter Alliance. MHSA member agency HomeStart partners with area shelters and service providers such as the Boston Public Health Commission, St. Francis House and Pine Street Inn to identify and provide ongoing supportive services to ESG Rapid Re-housing clients in order to maintain stable housing. MHSA has identified rapid re-housing as a critical component in the long-term plan to end homelessness.

Home Front is a low-threshold, permanent supportive housing program that serves chronically homeless veterans with the highest barriers to housing. The program is funded by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and jointly administered by the City of Boston Department of Neighborhood Development and MHSA. MHSA member agency New England Center for Homeless Veterans provides wraparound community-based supportive services for individuals who are housed through the program. The program is integrated into the City of Boston's coordinated entry system for homeless veterans, whereby the most vulnerable homeless veterans in the city are given priority access to program openings. Current participants were homeless for an average of five years prior to entering the program.

MHSA established the Massachusetts Faces of Homelessness Speakers' Bureau in 2010, in partnership with the National Coalition for the Homeless and the Corporation for National and Community Service. The Speakers' Bureau is comprised of currently and formerly homeless individuals who are passionate about sharing their life stories and educating the public about solutions to homelessness. Speakers and facilitators hold presentations at schools, faith communities, civic organizations, and other community groups, drawing on the firsthand experiences of the speakers and MHSA's years of programmatic and policy expertise, to engage new partners across Massachusetts in the mission of ending homelessness. The Speakers' Bureau has presented to more than 20,000 community members across Massachusetts and New England. In 2013, MHSA began the Leadership Development Program (LDP), training speakers and other individuals who have experienced homelessness to meaningfully and confidently share their experiences as a way to advocate for the investment of local, state and federal resources in solutions to homelessness.

In December 2014, MHSA and its partners, Corporation for Supportive Housing and United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, signed a Social Innovation Financing contract with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to institute the first "Pay for Success" initiative to address chronic homelessness. Through this initiative, MHSA will provide housing with supportive services for up to 800 homeless individuals across the Commonwealth. This outcome-based program will be evaluated rigorously in order to clearly demonstrate that this model is a cost-effective solution to homelessness for the most disabled segment of the homeless population. PFS represents the most coordinated approach to homelessness that MHSA has seen in Massachusetts. Additionally, MHSA has used the PFS initiative as an opportunity to focus on the integration of health care and housing. MHSA has been working with Managed Care Entities across the Commonwealth to bring them into the PFS initiative, and MHSA is thrilled to report that PFS providers will be able to receive Medicaid reimbursement for the critical services they provide to participants of the program.