United WayUnited Way

SAFE & STABLE HOUSING

A MORAL AND ECONOMIC IMPERATIVE

Housing is a human right

A safe, stable place to live supports our ability to thrive in school or work and is a foundation on which shared prosperity is built.
Housing is the foundation of wellbeing and plays one of the most formative roles in a person’s life. A safe, stable place to live supports our ability to thrive in school or work and is a foundation on which shared prosperity is built. While housing instability is most traumatic for the children, youth, families, and individuals who lose their homes, it impacts everyone. When people can remain in their homes, communities retain cohesion and diversity. It helps the ability of businesses and organizations to recruit and retain workers. Furthermore, housing instability and homelessness is systemically expensive, fueling higher costs for emergency response, education, and healthcare.

Home is Where the Start Is

We are investing in housing as an avenue to well-being and as a building block for the success of our economy. That includes housing across the spectrum of affordability, so that everyone can belong to our communities and have access the healthcare, education, and employment.

Housing Empowerment Coalition

It's essential to break down stereotypes and preconceived notions about homelessness, to learn directly from experts with lived experience, and to engage in empathetic conversations and solutions. There are significant barriers to providing everyone with the housing they need. We want to bring solutions to homelessness to a greater scale. But we won’t achieve it without the voices of people who we hope will potentially live in those units. The Homelessness Empowerment Coalition and the Community Action Hub are two coalitions led by United Way of people who have experienced homelessness and are now collaborating with us toward our goals of increasing access to safe and stable housing.

Improving Access to Emergency Rental Assistance

Housing stability is foundational — foundational for our region’s families and foundational for our economy. At a time when the cost of housing is already an insurmountable burden for thousands of Massachusetts families, it is critical that we do not exacerbate that burden by making rental assistance programs inaccessible. Removing barriers to access includes allowing people to apply in their own language and offering support to file the application and documentation requirements. Supporting trusted, community-based organizations will make critical rental assistance programs both more effective and more equitable.
THE RAFT REPORT

Supportive Housing Coalition

The Supportive Housing Coalition is a statewide collaborative made up of more than 80 cross-sector partners including healthcare, housing developers, service providers, and municipal leaders. Chaired by United Way of Mass Bay, Citizens Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA) and the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance, the coalition has developed a formal policy agenda and rallied members to support policy change to create the 4,000 supportive housing opportunities needed by 2027 to help prevent and end chronic homelessness in the Commonwealth.