People with lower incomes have fewer and fewer choices for affordable housing because of soaring home prices. Many low-wage families end up paying too much for housing–sometimes more than 30 percent of total income–and then struggle to pay for other essentials such as food, heat or medical care. A single unexpected bill can force a family into homelessness, which significantly exacerbates existing problems with employment, money management or illness. Others become homeless because of domestic violence, or suffer chronic homelessness because of substance abuse or other physical and mental health problems. Without help building their financial and personal stability, homeless people face enormous difficulty regaining shelter. Meanwhile, support services, transitional programs and homeless shelters are overwhelmed, with many shelters turning away several people for every one taken in.
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Immediately house people who become homeless and link them to the support services they need so they can regain stability more quickly and at lower long-term cost.
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Provide support services to people in transitional housing so they can move more quickly into permanent housing and keep it.
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Expand implementation of innovative strategies to create affordable housing in a variety of neighborhoods, such as community land trusts, which acquire and hold land but sell off buildings at lower cost.
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Help people stay in housing by providing short-term rent relief and other self-sufficiency tools.
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Support day centers, which give homeless people a place to take a shower, do laundry, make telephone calls or look for employment.
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Provide homebuyer education for first-time homeseekers.
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Build housing development projects to create and maintain subsidized housing for low-income people.
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Plymouth Housing Group houses formerly homeless single adults and provides customized case management, along with supportive services such as employment services, clothing, etc., to give tenants the chance to stabilize.
- HomeSight provides purchase assistance loans of up to $45,000 for moderate- and low-income first-time homebuyers, along with education classes, financial assessment and coaching sessions to help buyers create budgets and action plans.
- Fremont Public Association helps homeless people move toward shelter and long-term stability by offering money management and debt reduction assistance.
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