67+% of families return to a shelter within 3 years of finding permanent housing
The Growing Challenge of Family Homelessness, The Boston Foundation, 2017
More than 4000 families rely upon shelters in Massachusetts for housing. Many of these families are led by single mothers, who identify as BIPOC, and have suffered abuse, sexual violence, unstable housing, and multigenerational poverty. They typically require skills enhancement in order to secure a permanent job, guidance on basic budgeting and planning in order to establish a firm financial footing, as well as counseling to recover from past traumas. Without such grounding to address root cause issues, families too often are not able to sustain permanent housing and find themselves in a revolving door between housing and shelters.
