Housing People First

Our Housing People First philosophy means we believe the solution to homelessness lies in helping people move quickly from the streets or shelters into safe, stable housing.

Housing Start-Up Fund

How do we accomplish these goals? Working with Boston’s highly successful Housing First and Rapid Rehousing programs at the Woods Mullen Women’s and Southampton Men’s Shelters, our Housing Start-Up Fund is a unique and focused initiative that bridges the gap between public sector housing and the goal of helping people move directly and quickly off the streets and out of shelters into permanent housing.

By providing the critical “but for” funds people need, we (delete can help) cover critical start-up costs so people experiencing homelessness can move right into housing and connect with the vital services and opportunities they need to live hopeful, peaceful lives in our community.

More About the Housing Start-Up Fund

A Targeted, Solution-Oriented Approach

Friends supports two highly-successful strategies in Boston that end homelessness through our Housing People First mission: Housing First, for people who are chronically homeless, and Rapid Rehousing for people who are experiencing situational or crisis homelessness.

Housing First and Rapid Rehousing

Housing First and Rapid Rehousing are tremendously successful and dignified initiatives that serve some of our community’s most vulnerable and disenfranchised people by providing them with something that’s been long out of reach; safe, stable housing and once housed, connecting them to the community supports and opportunities they need to rebuild their lives.

Rather than counting on shelter as the solution to the issue, Housing First and Rapid Rehousing transform a person’s entrance into the shelter system into a path toward permanent, stable housing and connections to needed services, mainstream benefits, and education and employment opportunities in the community.

Housing First

Friends of Boston’s Homeless works with four tremendously successful Housing First Programs at the Southampton and Woods Mullen Shelters in Boston that help people who are chronically homeless: HUES (high users of emergency services) to Home, SSVF (Homeless Veterans and their families), Linking Treatment to Housing (homeless people struggling with mental health and addictions), and Home to Stay (long-term shelter stayers).

The people these programs that our Housing Start-up Fund help house were homeless for an average of 5 years and 27% slept in places not meant for human habitation prior to housing.

Rapid Rehousing

Not only do we help those who struggle with chronic homelessness, but we also help those who experience “crisis homelessness,” which can happen after the loss of a job or life partner, traumatic health event/inadequate health insurance, fleeing domestic violence, etc. The Rapid Rehousing programs that we help support not only move people to housing quickly, but they also keep people from falling into chronic homelessness.

Stories of Home and Hope – Housing First Successes

Hear more about our successes. Their stories — and the hundreds more like them — are the best testament to the power of Housing People First.