State assistance program helps homeless find affordable, livable housing

By Neil Zolot

The new rental assistance program HomeBASE could help landlords and tenants cover costs. “Families are trying to find stable homes,” Housing Families Inc. Landlord Liaison Stacey Brice said. “Rents are really high and a program like this is a blessing.”

The impetus is Governor Healey’s plan for 2025 to end the practice of housing migrant families in hotels and motels like enVision on Revere Beach Parkway this year. Funds come from the state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) Division of Housing Stabilization and are distributed through nine regional agencies in the state, including Metro Boston Housing, which covers Everett. Housing Families is an advocacy group that helps landlords and potential tenants access the aid. Given their service area includes Everett, Malden, Revere and Saugus, among other nearby communities, Housing Families has held informational forums at some city and town halls, including one at Everett City Hall Monday, February 3.

“Funding is being redirected from temporary shelter into supporting families’ exits into longer term housing, using HomeBASE as a tool,” their literature reads. “As hotels and motels start to close and families are given HomeBASE aid to secure housing, there will be an influx of families looking to rent units using HomeBASE funds.”

“It’s not a new initiative, but it’s become a more widely used tool to help facilitate exits from shelters,” Housing Families Manager of Policy and Community Engagement Katie Charcalis explained.

Definitions of an immigrant and a migrant are similar, but not exactly the same. Both the International Institute of New England and International Catholic Migration Commission define a migrant as someone moving within a country or internationally, usually for economic reasons (i.e., a job) without necessarily intending to stay in their new location. An immigrant is defined as someone moving from one country to another to resettle. In many cases “migrants” resettle permanently and become “immigrants.” An emigrant describes an immigrant from the perspective of the country they are leaving. People emigrate from one country and immigrate to another.

The mechanics of HomeBASE are pretty simple. Rental units are rented at market rates with participating families obligated to pay part of the rent depending on a family’s assets and HomeBASE supplying the additional cost. Generally, the tenant will pay 30%, HomeBASE, 70%, with the goal of the burden eventually shifting to families.

To ensure that, families must demonstrate economic responsibility and accrue savings before they can access aid. “We make sure they can afford an apartment after HomeBASE,” Brice said.

“We match tenants and landlords,” Housing Families Associate Director of Shelter Programs and Everett resident Carlos Acevedo added. “We refer families that will make a good fit. We’ll figure out how much they can afford. They have to be saving money and we have to be able to see it.”

Tenants are also required to work with a Case Manager and are prohibited from accessing future aid if they violate leases. Case Managers will work closely with tenants to prepare them to leave the program, check-in with them monthly and tailor plans for tenants focusing on long-term plans for housing and employment.

The program is for families, but landlords can fashion leases as they would with anyone else to prohibit pets or smoking if they want and meet the potential tenants before a lease is signed. “Your property, your rules,” Brice told the landlords in attendance.

“We respect landlord rights and teach tenants about things,” Acevedo said. “We do everything we can so we don’t have bad relationships with landlords because those are the people we need. If you don’t want something, we’ll go back and ask tenants if they can abide by the rules, or find someone else. We’ve had to have that difficult conversation. You can put things in a lease and break it if tenants are not following them.”

Brice doesn’t feel that will be a problem. “Every situation is different, but I’ve never seen a lease broken,” she said. “We have a large majority of tenants who won’t be messing around. They want a home.”

Still, she added, “if it’s not working out between landlords and tenants, the Case Manager will prepare for a move. There’s a program to help them move.”

Housing Families also informs tenants of their right to a livable apartment, with many communities having housing inspectors to ensure that.

Attempts are made to keep families and children in schools in their present community. “People want to stay where they are,” Brice said. However, that is not always possible.

Landlords will receive a bonus payment equal to one month rent for joining the program and have HomeBASE help cover moving costs, including security deposits. In some circumstances, HomeBASE will buy a refrigerator if a landlord informs them that they don’t provide one.

Housing Families considers the program a win-win for landlords and tenants. Landlords will get reliable tenants and a source to cover costs, and tenants will get support to help them find a home and stay there.

Only a handful of property owners attended. Grace Wu of Everett said the program “seems like a great deal with benefits for everyone.”

“It’s a great program,” Everett’s Affordable Housing Coordinator Zerina Grace agreed. “It provides a permanent solution instead of a temporary solution for housing. There are a decent number of people that need this.”