Ending Homelessness & Transforming Lives
Housing People First ends homelessness by providing people who struggle in unsafe outdoor spaces and crowded shelters with safe, dignified housing and connecting them to the supports and opportunities they need to rebuild their lives.
People experiencing homelessness have myriad vulnerabilities. They suffer from complex health and mental health disabilities that are essentially impossible to address amidst the chaos of homelessness. They are also often victims of crime, their safety constantly at risk.
Housing People First ends this tragedy by placing our community’s vulnerable neighbors in housing first.
- Moves people quickly from the streets/shelters into safe, stable housing – immediately ending their homelessness and improving their quality of life.
- Embraces the powerful belief that by removing the chaos of living on the streets and in shelters, people can finally engage in services and go on to live peaceful, hopeful lives.
- Demonstrates that once people are housed they finally can, and do, engage with health care providers and case managers; participate in support groups; establish routines; build relationships with family, friends, and community; and, move on to more independent living – decreasing their need for services over time.
Housing People First Works
In partnership with Homeless Services organizations across the City of Boston, Friends of Boston’s Homeless supports a number of tremendously successful Housing First Programs in Boston including, HUES (high users of emergency services) to Home, SSVF (Homeless Veterans and their families), Linking Treatment to Housing (people experiencing homelessness and struggling with mental health and addictions) and Home to Stay (long-term shelter stayers).
- Each year, Friends helps over 500 people move into in safe, dignified permanent housing (27% slept in places not meant for human habitation prior to being housed).
- Today over 90% remain in their homes and have not returned to the streets or shelters.
- Saves our community over $11,000/person annually in health care and public safety alone once someone is housed rather than living on the streets or in shelters – providing a dignified and cost-effective solution to homelessness.
The most significant barrier to immediately housing people is Housing Start-up Costs: security deposits, first/last month’s rent, initial rental gaps, utility arrearages, and essential furniture and household items that must be new like beds and linens we all need for our new homes. Because all are homeless, their savings are non-existent and none have furniture or other household items we need to make our house a home. 
Friends Housing Start-up Fund
- Provides support for critical initial housing costs, like security deposits and first month’s rent, to help move people quickly from the streets/shelters right into safe, dignified housing: immediately ending their homelessness and improving their quality of life.
- Provides essential furniture and household items like new beds and linens for people as they move into their own apartments – many for the first time in their lives – and gets them started on their journey to living peaceful, hopeful lives.
- Ends homelessness and transforms lives – providing a dignified, successful, and cost-saving solution for people struggling with homelessness, their families, and our community as a whole.
Read about our Housing First successes. These stories, and the hundreds more like them, are the best testament to the power of Housing People First. How our surroundings shape our thoughts, emotions, and actions. And, how a place of one’s own that is peaceful, safe, and dignified can transform lives.
You too can be part of the solution by making a donation to our Housing Start-up Fund. Or, browse our Housewarming Registry, where you can help provide essential household items that transform an empty new apartment into a warm, welcoming home for people as they move off the streets and out of shelters into a safe stable place of their own.
Read this heartwarming blog post, Hugs & Smiles, about our Housing Start-up Fund in action.
Friends would like to acknowledge our very generous partners in our work to end homelessness in Boston:
