In addition to rental housing vouchers, EOHLC provides emergency funding to help prevent evictions or secure housing for someone coming out of homelessness:
Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT): RAFT provides emergency financial assistance for rent, mortgage, moving, and utility costs for low-income households facing a housing crisis. RAFT serves more households annually than any other single line-item with an $3.7k average annual benefit disbursement per household. When considering the average annual subsidy for an MRVP is $20k and an average $75k cost for a 9-month length of stay for a family in the EA shelter, RAFT is a crucial upstream intervention. It is also a program that disproportionately serves marginalized populations. About 75% of RAFT assisted households have a female head of household. 40% of RAFT assisted households are Hispanic / Latino, despite making up only 12.6% of the general population of MA. Over 30% of RAFT assisted households are Black or African American, despite making up only 6.5% of the general population of MA
HomeBASE: The HomeBASE program helps families that have been determined eligible for EA by providing up to $30,000 over a 2-year period, with the possibility of a third year. Funding is flexible and able to support monthly rent payments, move-in cost, arrearages, moving expenses, and even furniture. Similar to other rapid rehousing and rental assistance programs, households will pay at least 30% of their gross monthly income towards rent.