About Us

HomeStart is a non-profit organization whose mission is to end homelessness in Greater Boston by assisting individuals in obtaining permanent housing and settling into the community, and by developing strategies to address systemic barriers to housing placement.

Mission & Philosophy

HomeStart is dedicated to ending homelessness and changing lives. HomeStart’s focus is on each individual person. The premise of our work is that every person needs a decent place to live. Having a home helps to restore a person’s sense of dignity and offers the stability that is often a prerequisite for making other life changes, such as securing a job, advancing an education, regaining mental health stability, or maintaining sobriety. The staff treats each person assisted with respect and keeps a laser-like focus on the goals of finding and keeping housing until these results are achieved.

HomeStart’s focus is also on the big picture and systems change. The organization goes beyond responding to individual needs by promoting the creation of housing solutions system wide. It is creative at seeking out scarce housing subsidies and other resources from government and private sources and setting up organizational systems to manage them. HomeStart’s role as a centralized broker and clearinghouse for Boston and Cambridge allows it to link homeless and at-risk people with housing opportunities and resources efficiently and cost-effectively.

History

The organization began in 1994 when advocates and shelter providers set out to test a simple premise: with the right housing assistance and expertise homeless men and women could make it in housing. Boston’s homeless shelters at the time gave single adults a place to stay, but few services to help them find housing. The result was a gridlocked system with an overflow of people. HomeStart began with a pilot grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), a few trained staff, and a vision for change. HomeStart has grown a lot since then. However, this growth has always been focused on the agency’s clear vision and agenda of housing solutions to end homelessness. The organization began by helping to place homeless adults in housing; then it added follow-up services to assist people to retain housing; and next it initiated housing services to prevent homelessness. Along the way, it took on the challenge of securing and managing an array of housing tools from flexible rental funds to long-term housing subsidies that facilitate ending and preventing homelessness.