Boston’s Way Home Launches Moving On

Co-authored with Bill McGonagle, Administrator of the Boston Housing Authority

This is Ken M.

Ken is sitting on his new couch, in his new living room in Charlestown — so new that if you look closely, you’ll notice that there is still plastic on the lamps next to the couch. He looks pensive.

“I keep staring out the window,” he says to his case manager from Pine Street Inn. “I still can’t believe it. I grew up down the street. I’ve really come full circle.”

“I took the long way around,” he continues. ”But I made it.”

Moving On

It’s summer now. It’s a season of change. Students graduate. Families embark on new adventures. And Ken, who was homeless for over 5 years, is also Moving On.

Under Mayor Walsh’s direction, Boston has radically changed the way we support homeless people. We’ve moved to a housing first model, and since launching in 2015, working with our partners, we’ve housed more than 1,100 individuals.

One of the things we’ve come to understand in our work is that chronically homeless individuals — those individuals who have been homeless the longest, and have the most complex needs — must have help to become stable in housing. So, when we create a housing plan for an individual, we also connect them with the services they need, in what we call “supportive housing.”

Supportive housing pairs affordable housing with the services necessary to help formerly homeless people with complex challenges find stable, independent lives. But, we’ve learned, success can go even farther.

Happily, some formerly homeless people find they no longer need the same level of services that they once did, and are ready to move to a more independent living situation. But another important lesson we’ve learned is that people, even successful ones, often need a hand with transition.

Together with our partners, the City of Boston created the “Moving On” initiative, which gives people living in supportive housing the tools and support they need to move on to more independent housing.

Ken is a perfect example of a Moving On success story.

How Moving On works:

We want every formerly homeless individual who wants to move to thrive in their new home. To help them succeed, we piloted the Moving On initiative with the Boston Housing Authority, Pine Street Inn, and St. Francis House, with guidance from our consultants at Corporation for Supportive Housing.

To help formerly homeless people in this new program determine whether more independent living is the right choice for them, these partners developed an assessment tool, based on the Arizona Self-Sufficiency Matrix. If this tool shows that individual has a stable housing history and no longer needs the intensive services of supportive housing, they could then apply to the Boston Housing Authority for affordable, independent housing.

Once a tenant secured housing, the City provided tools to help them move on, such as furniture, start-up costs, and moving costs through our nonprofit partners. And to ensure that people are set up to succeed, our partner supportive housing agencies help people Moving On with the basics of beginning a tenancy, such as understanding their rental rights and responsibilities; making sure that utilities have been placed in their names and turned on; and helping them identify supports in the community, such as health care, recreational activities, volunteer opportunities, public transportation options and grocery store locations.

Partner agencies follow up with participants one month and six months after they move in, to ensure that these new tenants are thriving in their new homes.

Probably the most important benefit to the Moving On initiative is that it frees up new units of supportive housing and services, which can now be provided to other individuals experiencing chronic homelessness.

The pilot has been so successful that we are able to expand Moving On, through a new partnership with New Lease and local affordable housing owners. HomeStart is also joining the new team as the transitional service provider, and we’re adding additional new permanent supportive housing partners to broaden the pool of referrals.

The diagram below shows how homeless people can move through our newly designed system from homelessness to stability. You’ll see that the Moving On initiative comes later in the process, once someone is out of crisis and has become stable.

All of us — Ken’s partners in becoming stable in housing — are incredibly happy for him, and wish him well in his new home. We look forward to telling you many more stories.

For more information about Boston’s Way Home, the Walsh Administration’s initiative to end chronic and veteran homelessness, please visit boston.gov/homelessness, and follow us on Twitter: @BostonsWayHome