Homeless families already in emergency shelters, including migrants from other countries, may be eligible for a state-run program that provides up to $30,000 over two years to find stable housing.
The program, HomeBASE, has long served homeless families with children or pregnant women living in the emergency shelter system, which provides temporary housing under state’s decades-old right-to-shelter law. About half of the shelter system houses Massachusetts residents, according to state officials.
Resettlement agencies are also working with Gov. Maura Healey’s administration to stand up a pilot program that would, according to one draft plan, help up to 400 migrants in shelter with one year of case management and help finding long-term housing, including through HomeBASE.
HomeBASE can help with a homeless family’s first and last month’s rent, security deposit, and broker’s fee for a new apartment. Monthly payments can assist with rent up to two years, with the possibility of a third year of help.
Money can also head to furniture, moving expenses, and utilities based on a family’s needs. And the program also supports overdue rent or utility payments.
The program pays a landlord or vendor, like a moving company or utility company, directly instead of handing cash to the family.
A family must either be living in or eligible — with all the required documentation — for the state-run emergency shelter system. Families in non-emergency domestic violence shelters and residential use treatment programs may also qualify for HomeBASE.
Healey capped the number of families in the emergency shelter system at 7,500 last year and instituted a waitlist for those who apply for temporary housing while shelters are at capacity. There were 714 families on the waitlist as of Thursday, according to the state’s housing department.
Families who are on the waitlist can access overflow shelter sites at the state-owned Melnea Cass Recreation Center as well as sites in Quincy and Cambridge. Other sites, including empty office space in the Seaport, are under consideration.
