Some Massachusetts residents face complex barriers to housing, including unemployment, mental illness, substance use disorder, history of incarceration, long-term homelessness, and other challenges.
Supportive housing is affordable housing that is coupled with available services to provide dignified community living to individuals or families who exhibit “chronic and high need.” This includes individuals, families, and young adults who are experiencing chronic and/or long-term or episodic homelessness and have disabling condition such as mental illness, substance use disorder, HIV/AIDS, and/or other comorbid chronic health conditions.
There are many different types of supportive housing; and not all homeless (or even chronically homeless) individuals or families need supportive housing. That said, data on chronically homeless individuals does provide context. As of November 2024, an estimated 16% of households in Massachusetts, 2,240 out of 13,770, are experiencing chronic homelessness. Similar to national trends, approximately 89% of chronically homeless households are single adults with only 250 family households being identified as chronic homelessness.
Evidence has shown providing supportive housing leads to better long-term health outcomes and reduced utilization of costly emergency health care services that may lead to cost savings.