BOSTON - Wednesday,
September 22, 2021 - Today Mayor Kim Janey joined other cities and
municipalities to announce Boston’s commitment to participate in President
Biden’s House America program to prevent homelessness. House
America is the federal government’s direct response to the crisis of
housing insecurity. In March, the Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) released its 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report Part
1 to Congress, which found that more than 580,000 people across the country
experienced homelessness in the United States on a single night in January
2020, prior to the pandemic. COVID-19 has created greater urgency to
address homelessness, given economic disparities and the heightened health
risks faced by people experiencing homelessness. However, COVID-19 has
slowed re-housing activities due to capacity issues and impacts on rental
market vacancies.
“It is crucial that
we ensure that residents of Boston have safe, stable housing especially
during this time of global pandemic,” said Mayor Kim Janey. “I am proud to
announce that the City of Boston will be joining the call to action laid
out by President Biden and HUD Secretary Fudge. This support from the
federal government builds on the progress Boston is already making with our
Housing Stability Agenda, making sure our most vulnerable residents are
protected.”
House America calls
on state, tribal, and local leaders to partner with HUD to use American
Rescue Plan funding, as well as other resources to re-house individuals
experiencing homelessness. The
City of Boston is committing to rehouse 1,100 households that have
experienced or will experience homelessness between now and December 31,
2022. During this same period, Boston has committed to fund the creation of
650 units of housing for people facing housing insecurity. The majority of
this housing will be paired with supportive services to allow individuals
to remain stably housed.
House America
affirms the Housing First approach, and seeks to have new units of
affordable housing, including new permanent supportive housing units, added
to the development pipeline by no later than December 31, 2022.
“The health and
well-being of individuals and families and the economic security of our
communities is at stake,” said Housing and Urban Development Secretary
Marcia L. Fudge. “It’s going to take government working at all levels and
local collaboration to address homelessness and to guarantee housing as a
right for every American. Together, let’s House America.”
The City of Boston’s
collaborative work to house, shelter, and keep homeless individuals and
families safe has continued throughout the pandemic. To help keep people in
their homes, Mayor Janey announced the Housing Stability Agenda in August. This action created a citywide
moratorium and plans for a Foreclosure Prevention Fund.
Since the launch of Rising to the Challenge: Boston's Plan to Prevent
and End Youth and Young Adult Homelessness in December 2019, the City of Boston has
housed more than 156 youth between the ages of 18 and 24 years old
experiencing homelessness. This goal was achieved despite the economic downturn
associated with the pandemic.
Boston’s Way Home, the City’s plan to end chronic and veteran
homelessness utilizes the housing first approach, an evidence-based process
premised on the value that everyone is deserving of permanent and stable
housing without preconditions like sobriety or treatment. Since the plan’s
launch in 2015, City agencies and community partners have dramatically
redesigned the way Boston responds to individuals experiencing
homelessness, increasing resources devoted to housing, prioritizing the
most vulnerable, and deploying new technologies to efficiently match
homeless individuals with housing.
Since the launch of
Boston’s Way Home, the City has:
·
Housed
more than 1,094 chronically homeless individuals, representing more than
7,000 years of homelessness ended. (The U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development defines chronically homeless individuals as adults with a
disability who have been either living in an emergency shelter or a place
not meant for human habitation continuously for 12 months or more, or who
have had four occasions of homelessness in the past three years that total
12 months or more.)
·
Reduced
chronic homelessness in Boston by 19 percent since 2016, at a time when
chronic homelessness has been rising nationally
·
Housed
more than 1,500 homeless veterans and ended chronic homelessness among
veterans
·
Reduced
the number of homeless veterans in Boston on a single night by 32 percent
since 2014
·
Reached
the goal of raising more than $10 million for the Boston’s Way Home Fund to build 200 new units of
supportive, long-term housing for chronically homeless men and women.
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