CHRIS NORRIS
Tie vouchers to services
Housing advocates are pressing for a new statewide program that will help low-income families become economically independent.
They’re asking the state to set aside $5 million to launch a program that will link homeless people or low-income families who receive a state rental housing voucher with support services such as job training or child care. The ultimate goal is to help people gain more permanent housing and employment.
“The idea is to connect housing vouchers and services,” said Chris Norris, executive director of the Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership, a nonprofit housing agency serving low-income people in Greater Boston.
The program, called Moving to Economic Opportunity, would be modeled after the federally funded Family Self Sufficiency Program. Under the federal program, people with federal Section 8 rental vouchers can work with a coordinator to create a list of goals, such as purchasing a home or furthering education. They have five years to meet their goals, and as they work, money is placed in an escrow account to assist them.
In a similar fashion, a statewide program would enable participants to save money. Participants with vouchers typically pay no more than 40 percent of their income on rent. But as part of the program, as tenants’ incomes grow, their share of the rent will increase and the subsidy will decrease. The difference will be placed into an escrow account that will be available to participants after five years for the purchase of a home or payment of educational expenses.
MBHP estimates the program could serve up to 500 households.
The pilot program was pitched last year but didn’t get funded. This year, housing groups are hoping the idea moves forward.
“[Gov. Deval Patrick’s] administration seems open to new ideas,” said Norris, who testified at a budget hearing held by the state Department of Housing and Community Development late last month. “We’re hoping we’ll have a more receptive audience than the previous administration.”
Housing groups also want the state to bolster the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program, a $26 million program that provides rental subsidies to low-income tenants.
Last year, advocates requested a $10 million increase, but the program was boosted by an additional $2.5 million. About 4,500 households received vouchers last fiscal year and the state is expected to issue 300 additional vouchers this year, according to Stephanie Brown, executive director of Homes for Families, a homelessness prevention organization.
Supporters say the rental voucher program is key to preventing homelessness.
“There’s a record number of families in [homeless shelters] right now and the numbers are increasing higher and faster. We see the only solution in housing,” said Brown, noting that there are 1,700 families in shelters.
This year, Norris said, MBHP wants a significant increase to MRVP but won’t specify an amount until the newly formed Commission to End Homelessness offers its recommendations.
‘No Incentive’
Advocates also want the state to change eligibility requirements for the program.
Currently, tenants are eligible for state rental vouchers if they earn no more than 200 percent of the federal poverty level, which translates into just over $27,000 annually for a single person with a child.
But advocates want to change the guidelines so tenants earning no more than 50 percent of the area median income are eligible. The change would better reflect incomes and housing costs in areas throughout the state and help tenants who live in higher cost areas, such as Greater Boston.
“We have families who are losing vouchers because they’ve reached the limit on income but they’re spending 40 or 50 percent of their income on rent in the private market.” Norris said. “If they’re thrown off the program, then a huge part of their income is going to housing.”
Brown, of Homes for Families, said the change would help families who face the risk of losing their voucher if their incomes grow.
“Right now, there’s no incentive whatsoever to actually increase income and move out of poverty. So households get stuck because if they earn a little bit too much money, they’re going to lose their voucher and potentially become homeless,” Brown said.
Groups also want state leaders to add $2 million to the $5 million Residential Assistance for Families in Transition program, which provides families with up to $3,000 to pay back rent and missed utility payments.
Norris said he’s hoping the state will broaden RAFT to include individuals.
“We want to expand it to individuals but the funds are always exhausted. The last thing we want to do is take funds from people who are currently eligible,” he said.
Groups also are requesting at least $2.5 million to operate the state’s housing consumer education centers. The centers, administered by nine regional nonprofit housing agencies, offer counseling and education to tenants and property owners. Last year, the budget included $1.6 million for the centers.
Housing advocates are optimistic they will get more funding this year because rising foreclosure activity has spurred more people to seek assistance at the centers.
