Housing First

It is estimated that more than 20,000 children in Massachusetts will experience homelessness this year. While shelter systems provide critical emergency support for families, the negative impact of episodic homelessness on children is profound. Side effects include increased depression among parents and children, an increase in poor academic performance, and an increased chance a family will be separated. Research and practice have shown that putting people experiencing homelessness into housing first helps them to more effectively and efficiently stabilize their lives and become more self-sufficient.

To move from a response that simply manages homelessness to one that works to end it, United Way is working with its network to prioritize a Housing First approach to homelessness. Instead of asking homeless families to go through a series of services before being eligible for housing, Housing First responds to evidence that families who are free from worry about finding shelter are more receptive to the services that will keep them stable in the long-run, and prioritizes housing as a first step.

• We invested more than $750,000 this year to enable our partner agencies to move toward a Housing First approach to homelessness.
• Jeff Hayward, a United Way expert on Housing First is a member of the Massachusetts Policy Academy to End Family Homelessness, which brought recommendations to the Patrick Administration in early 2008.
• We continue to bring new leaders into the fold on Housing First, hosting a state-wide conference, Ending Homelessness: Housing First in Policy and Practice, with Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance and One Family, Inc. in October 2006 and a summit to raise public and political will for Housing First called, "Ending Homelessness in the Commonwealth" in January of 2008.

To learn more, click on the links to the right.