“What do we do?” The invisible work behind every housing success story…

One of the most common questions we get since shifting from a shelter model to exclusively homelessness prevention and shelter diversion is, "What do you do?" I still haven't found the right words to answer that question. Maybe that's because the reality is that our work is too hard to capture in an elevator pitch. Every family needs something different, but our goal is always the same: help families avoid homelessness and find stable, safe, permanent housing.

In July alone, our team helped three families obtain permanent housing. I thought I'd walk you through one of those stories to show you what our work actually looks like.

This family was a single father—let's call him Daniel. Daniel and his toddler son had exited shelter two years ago using a state-funded program called HomeBASE, which helps families pay rent as they transition out of shelter. Unfortunately, the program is deeply flawed. Families are often placed into units they could never realistically afford once the assistance ends, leaving them at high risk of eviction while landlords collect the full benefit. Meanwhile, the families are left with the stain of an eviction on their record, often barring them from future housing opportunities.

In Daniel’s situation, he was only in state-funded shelter for a couple of months before he was pressured by the state to accept a HomeBASE placement in a large apartment complex he knew he would not be able to afford on his own.

He expressed concerns about this, but they were dismissed. He even asked whether he could pay a larger share of the rent himself to stretch the HomeBASE funding, but that request was also denied. Think about that. Here was a father trying to do exactly what we hope families will do: contribute what he could to stay housed, and the system wouldn't let him. Within eight months of moving in, and at the same time he was laid off due to a site closure, his HomeBASE funds were exhausted, leaving Daniel unemployed and facing eviction for nonpayment of rent.

By the time Daniel came to us, he had exhausted nearly every option. He was told he could no longer access emergency shelter because he had recently used HomeBASE. His attempts to secure RAFT (another rental assistance program) had also stalled because his landlord refused to participate.

Our case manager immediately got to work. At every step, she uncovered moments where the system had failed Daniel. His situation wasn't the result of one bad decision or one unfortunate event. It was the result of a system that repeatedly left him without the flexibility or advocacy he needed to succeed. We couldn't change what had already happened, but we could make sure he didn't have to navigate what came next alone.

She helped him navigate the eviction process, supporting him at every court appearance and advocating with the lawyer of the day to push for an agreement that would allow his eviction to be sealed immediately after filing.

At the same time, our case manager was completing Daniel's CHAMP (public housing) application, applying to every local affordable housing wait list she could find, and searching for a safe place for Daniel and his son to live.

When a spot opened up in a temporary rental assistance program, we were able to move Daniel and his son into an apartment while our search for permanent housing continued.

Meanwhile, court proceedings ended with the terms of the agreement met by both parties, and our case manager was able to immediately file to seal the eviction. Within a month, it no longer appeared on public eviction records accessed by future landlords. Sealing eligible evictions has been critical in helping families qualify for affordable housing opportunities that would otherwise have been out of reach.

Just a few months later, the team learned about a brand-new housing lottery for a permanent, income-based apartment in a newly constructed building designed to help address Massachusetts' shortage of affordable housing. There was just one catch: the application deadline was only two days away. The Family Promise team dropped everything to coordinate the application process, ensuring all documentation was complete and even knocking on Daniel's door to collect the final pen-and-ink signatures before the deadline. Daniel was one of nine families our team helped apply for the housing lottery during that two-day period.

When Daniel's name was drawn at the top of the list, all the metaphorical ducks were in a row. His eviction no longer barred him from housing, and all of his paperwork was ready because of the work done alongside our team. Too often, families miss opportunities because they don't know they exist or can't pull together the required documentation in time. That wasn't the case here.

When it came time to move into his new unit this month, our case manager secured multiple sources of financial assistance to cover move-in costs, including RAFT funding to pay for movers and a couch. But even then, the work wasn't over. Additional financial hurdles required advocacy, applications, letters of support, and countless phone calls and emails, resulting in hours—if not days—of work by his case manager. All of these obstacles could have delayed or even prevented this family's move.

Today, less than a year after finding Family Promise, Daniel and his son are permanently housed in an apartment they can truly afford. They have a home.

This is why it's so difficult to answer the question, "What do you do?" We didn't simply help Daniel find housing. We navigated court proceedings, housing systems, rental assistance programs, housing lotteries, mountains of paperwork, and countless barriers that most people never see. Every family's journey is different, but every one requires persistence, creativity, problem-solving, and relentless advocacy. Daniel never gave up, and our case manager never stopped looking for the next solution. It was that combination of determination and relentless advocacy that kept this family moving forward when, at so many points along the way, they could have been pushed back into homelessness. That’s what homelessness prevention and shelter diversion looks like.