Covid-19 has negatively impacted the community by creating job losses. This has resulted in rising rates of homelessness and a lack of funds for individuals and families to be able to pay their bills. As these individuals anxiously await the economy to get back on track, this has led to an increased demand for the services provided by A Home 4 Everyone.

Within the next 12 months, we intend for A Home 4 Everyone to conduct weekly staff meetings to address both accomplishments and possible setbacks that have taken place within the prior week. We also would like to increase the amount of housing placement for clients because there will be a more hands-on approach to initiating contact with housing management and officials, as well as being available to help resolve any client-tenant disputes.

SMART goals – define your success by specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time bound goals.

A Home 4 Everyone will measure/evaluate the work based on the success rate of the tasks we take on with our clients, which is currently 100%. Based on the success rate that we’ve obtained, we've learned that we can utilize the same tactics given the same circumstances as before, and when faced with new challenges, we will take it on as we have other tasks and learn what to do, and what not to do in that situation. We will also evaluate ourselves by the additional number of housing applicants and applications we’re able to serve, as well as alleviating additional evictions looming over client’s heads.

A challenge most commonly faced is the ability to place clients in housing as fast as we would like to, due to the waitlists, lotteries, availability, and financials of each client. We continue to work to adapt by continuing to beat the pavement by actively applying to every waitlist, lottery, and management company possible. This diligence and commitment are how we’ve been able to succeed in placing people in housing—some of our clients are on and in as many as 20 waitlists and lotteries. We will not stop until we see results.

A Home 4 Everyone’s Board and staff range from ages 31-64 and ethnicity is black, biracial, and Indian. The Board of Directors' demographics range from lower Roxbury, Brighton, Dorchester, and the South End, which are some of the primary areas of service. One of our directors was born with cerebral palsy but is a woman who has strived in many areas, one being motherhood, and does a fantastic job. One commitment goal the Organization has made is to also mentor and counsel the clients who come through A Home 4 Everyone to assure they are truly okay physically, financially and socially so we can offer other services to them via other agencies throughout the area.

Being so new, A Home 4 Everyone was recently given the names of two organizations by a donor who thought it would greatly benefit our organization. One focuses on refurbished furniture, mattresses, and other housing needs, and the other focuses on children’s clothing and school needs. Recently, we had an extensive meeting with another housing organization that’s interested in partnering with A Home 4 Everyone, Inc., and have scheduled additional meetings to formulate the capacity of how we can provide services to enhance their program. A Home 4 Everyone, Inc. has partnered with Mission of Deeds, Eastern Bank, the City of Boston, and Home Start. We are constantly seeking to build connections with others for the betterment of the community.

A Home’s annual goal will be to build a strong, cohesive team that will strive to help service all clients who come to us as well as connect with other organizations that will benefit the clients with other needs they may have. This grant will give the organization the opportunity to expand the needs of people who need housing or having problems in their current housing to have advocates available to service various needs faced when people feel like there’s no one there to help or support them in trying times. Over the next 12 months, the team at A Home 4 Everyone will continue to build and tackle each issue, one issue at a time, and assure individuals and families who come to us, that we are here to serve them and work to give the best outcome we can possibly give, so they can refer anyone else in need to us.

We at A Home 4 Everyone is an Organization of Diversity & Inclusion so there is no specific population we serve. We serve anyone who’s in need of the services we provide.

A Home 4 Everyone is an Organization of Diversity & Inclusion so there is no specific population we serve. We serve anyone who finds themselves in need of the services we provide.

The eligible population for this project is unaccompanied individuals currently residing in Boston who are in need of access to permanent housing, specifically targeting:

• Are living in the home of another because of economic hardship
• Are living in a hotel or motel not paid for by charitable or public funds
• Are exiting a publicly funded institution or system of care

The team will provide housing search consultation to any individual residing in Metro Boston and surrounding areas who contacts the program for assistance. This consultation may include:

• Overview of affordable housing options and strategies for conducting the affordable housing search process

Housing search consultations will be conducted initially by phone, email, and video call, and, when it is deemed safe to do so, in-person. Housing search consultations will also act as a screening process for identifying individuals for our agency and case management services.

The screening process will also identify and prioritize individuals in situations where ongoing housing search intervention is most likely to lead to a near-term housing placement, including those who are:

• Currently searching for a unit with a newly obtained tenant-based mobile housing voucher
• Have been/will imminently be displaced from their tenancy but have preserved their tenant-based mobile housing voucher and are searching for a new unit
• Currently in the screening process for any affordable housing opportunity
• Currently receiving enough income to sustain market-rate housing without a rental stipend but unlikely to be matched by rental resources.

The current conditions of the housing market are especially stark, and as pandemic relief programs wind down, the ripple effects could be devastating for many families. But underlying issues around affordable housing for low-income families have been apparent for much longer.