Program areas at MBHP
Rental Housing assistance - federal and state funded Housing vouchers and other subsidy programs that served more than 10,991 disabled, elderly, formerly homeless, and other individuals and families in Boston and 31 surrounding communities including arlington, bedford, belmont, braintree, brookline, burlington, cambridge, chelsea, everett, holbrook, lexington, malden, medford, melrose, milton, newton, north reading, quincy, randolph, reading, revere, somerville, stoneham, wakefield, waltham, watertown, weymouth, wilmington, winchester, winthrop and woburn. Metro housing-boston's target population consists of households with low- and moderate-incomes who face a variety of barriers to Housing. Financial demographics for individuals receiving Metro Housing services under all of the rental assistance programs, including the section 8 program, are: 82% under $30,000, 10% at $30,001-$45,000, 5% at $45,001-$60,000, 3.59% over $60,000; average annual income for our households is $17,980. Additionally, 38% of the households we serve have children under the age of 18, 49% of the heads of households we serve are persons with a disability and 27% of all households have a head of household that is elderly. Additionally, Metro administered $67,166,391 in residential assistance for families in transition (raft)/emergency rental and mortgage arrears (erma) and emergency rental assistance payment (erap) funds to assist 11,078 households.
Financial assistance programs in fy22 included the hcec staff responding to more than 29,511 phone, email, voicemail and walk-in inquiries. Of those, 27,014 individuals received virtual (phone, email and video counseling services.
Metro Housing's approach is "Housing first, not Housing only." The Housing supports programs offer a continuum of services from information and referral to in-depth individualized case management, intensive Housing search, and eviction prevention education, services and resources which address the barriers that make it difficult to find or maintain a home. Housing supports also administered $150,000 in private flexible funds to assist 391 non-raft eligible families and individuals, and $5,445,300 in city of Boston emergency rental relief programs to 1,135 households. In addition, more than 279 families received stabilization assistance through the homebase program, and 89 homeless families were placed into permanent Housing. Metro Housing co-located with 9 partners throughout our region to ensure that our services were accessible to clients in all communities. In total, in fy 22 staff responded to more than 15,877 phone, email, and walk-in inquiries. Of those, 787 individuals received in-person brief counseling services, and 1,016 received intensive case management services.