Latest news with #MRVP
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tough-to-get rent vouchers popular with tenants, landlords
BOSTON (SHNS) – Both tenants and landlords reported significant satisfaction with a state-run voucher program designed to help low-income residents pay rent, even as they continue to flag difficulties with navigating the system, according to a new report. The MassINC Polling Group and The Boston Foundation on Wednesday published a 56-page report about the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program, combining broader surveys with more detailed interviews involving residents who use the safety-net program. Seven in 10 landlords said they are somewhat or very satisfied with the program, praising it for guaranteeing consistent rent payments, allowing them to make positive community impacts and reducing tenant turnover. Among renters, many described experiencing significant benefits. Eighty-six percent agreed that their children are performing better in school because they have stable housing, and 78% said it's easier to keep a job with housing secured. 'The Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program enables thousands of families to put down roots in our community and access a safe and stable home that provides a foundation for them to thrive in school and work,' Sarah Bartley, senior vice president of safe and stable housing at United Way of Massachusetts Bay, said in a statement provided alongside the report. 'This report demonstrates how we all win when families are able to realize their goals by maintaining employment, saving more, and building credit.' Still, analysts said many MRVP participants continue to experience obstacles. Forty-five percent of renters who were deemed eligible for the program said it took more than a year to receive a rental voucher after they first applied. About a third said it took them four months or longer after receiving a voucher to find an apartment. Roughly one-quarter of tenants said they were treated unfairly in the process of using their voucher. One tenant surveyed reported waiting for hours on the phone to get recertified. 'We have to sit on hold for like five hours. Then the call will get disconnected,' the tenant said, per the report. 'Once you get to number one, you have to sit on hold for another three hours.' Report authors called on Beacon Hill to codify MRVP into statute, instead of keeping it as a single line item renewed in the annual state budget, and to expand the number of vouchers available. Households that make less than 80% of the area median income where they live are eligible to apply for MRVP vouchers. Demand for vouchers far exceeds the supply. The program serves 10,700 low-income households, who typically pay 30% of their gross income for rent and receive a voucher for the remainder, according to the Boston Foundation, but the waitlist to get on the program was recently estimated at 160,000 and the new report pegged it at 168,000 as of February. Policymakers face regular calls for more action to address a statewide lack of affordable, available housing that puts pressure on residents across the income spectrum. In their fiscal 2026 budget proposals, Gov. Maura Healey and the Senate Ways and Means Committee each moved to increase funding for MRVP from $219 million to $253 million. The House-approved budget would go a bit further and bump the program up to $258 million. Healy administration officials have estimated that a $253 million appropriation could support a bit more than 11,000 vouchers, citing increases in rents as a constraining factor. 'Across the Commonwealth, the intensifying housing affordability crisis is disproportionately affecting low-income Latinx and immigrant communities, especially our most vulnerable residents in places like Chelsea,' said La Colaborativa Chief Operating Officer Alex Train. 'MRVP, a major tool in combating the affordability crisis, is a notably effective program, as outlined in this thorough report. We emphatically urge the Commonwealth to codify and expand MRVP, in order to make housing stability a reality for all families in our Commonwealth.' Other report recommendations included better communication with tenants and landlords, state investment in outreach and education about the program, and efforts to tackle the so-called cliff effect, which refers to when a voucher-holder becomes ineligible after an increase in income pushes them above the allowable threshold. The survey, conducted in early December, involved 989 tenants with vouchers through the program and 175 landlords who rent to voucher-holders. Authors also held two focus groups with MRVP tenants and 11 landlord interviews in February. Local News Headlines WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WWLP.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Less than half of Mass. housing voucher holders can consistently afford rent
Less than half of low-income tenants in Massachusetts who hold state-funded housing vouchers can consistently afford their monthly rent, according to a Boston Foundation report released Wednesday. The report, which studied the efficacy of the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP), revealed that 44% of voucher holders were always able to afford rent, while 33% said they could afford it most of the time and 16% said they could only afford it sometimes. Researchers determined through surveys and interviews with tenants and landlords that while the program is a lifeline for the people it helps, it also has significant shortcomings. Those shortfalls make it difficult for people to access rental assistance and/or build long-term financial security. 'While safe, stable housing is a vast improvement on the alternative, [tenants] aspire to geographic and economic mobility,' the researchers wrote in the report. 'Voucher holders want to have a choice of decent places to live, to be able to save and someday to be able to afford homeownership.' What is the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program? The state rental assistance program is the oldest housing voucher program in the U.S. and serves more than 10,000 low-income households, according to the report. The state budgeted $219 million for the program in the current fiscal year. Gov. Maura Healey calls for raising that to $253 million in her proposed fiscal 2026 budget. To be eligible for the program, a household must make 80% or less of the area median income for their city or town. Voucher holders pay 30% of their monthly income toward rent, and the voucher covers the rest. Tenants who use state-funded vouchers told the researchers the program has allowed them to improve their lives. Seventy-eight percent of tenants said it was easier to find and keep a job because of the housing stability a voucher provides, and 86% of parents said their children were doing better in school. 'My kids aren't living in a shelter apartment. My kids are with me. I'm not in fear that my children are going to be taken by DCF [Department of Children & Family] because I can't provide a stable living,' one tenant told the researchers. Voucher recipients are generally able to access higher-quality housing. Tenants in focus groups said their homes are better, and appliances and utilities work better than in previous apartments. Sixty-four percent of survey respondents said their current home is in excellent or good condition. Landlords who rented to MRVP tenants broadly said the program also benefits them. A large majority — 81% — cited the guarantee of consistent rent payments as one of the most helpful aspects, while 38% mentioned reduced turnover rates and 20% mentioned access to a wider pool of tenants. Seventy percent said they were very or somewhat satisfied with the program, and 47% said they were 'very likely' to seek out voucher-holding tenants in the future, in addition to 22% who said they were 'somewhat likely' to do so. What challenges exist for tenants with rental vouchers? The state program currently has a waitlist of 168,000 people hoping to receive a voucher, according to the report. Of voucher holders surveyed, 45% said it took more than a year to receive a voucher after they applied. However, even those with vouchers said they faced challenges affording basic necessities and saving money. This was particularly true for households at both ends of the eligible income spectrum. For the lowest-income tenants, even with some of their rent covered, their remaining funds may not stretch far enough to cover bills. Participants with the highest eligible incomes experience 'cliff effects,' or the drop-off of assistance programs if their income exceeds the eligible level. Another issue discussed by tenants and landlords is that of communication and transparency on the part of the state. 'Tenants and landlords both emphasized how much smoother their experiences were when dealing with a representative who they felt was competent and communicative,' the researchers wrote. 'They also described frustrating situations with uncommunicative representatives, long hold times on the phone, missing information or feeling lost when contact dropped off after move-in.' What improvements can be made to the program? The report outlines several recommendations for improving the state rental voucher program, including creating more vouchers and providing more opportunities for tenants to build wealth. The researchers suggested providing 'bridge' financial assistance to households that lose their eligibility due to an increase in income, to offset cliff effects, and giving waitlist priority to previous voucher holders if their income drops back down below the threshold. They suggested expanding the existing Self-Sufficiency Program within MRVP, which helps tenants develop career skills and access employment, and if their income increases, the extra funds are placed in an escrow account until they complete the program. Only some of the organizations that administer vouchers offer this program. The report also emphasizes the need for better education for tenants and landlords about the requirements and process of the voucher program and communication with the agency. The researchers acknowledged that most of these improvements would require more funding for the program, but did not say how much more funding would be needed. To help provide more resources and stability to the program, they recommended that MRVP be codified into state law. Currently, money for the program is renewed annually in the state budget passed by the Legislature, which leaves tenants without a guarantee that the funds will be allocated each year. 'Codifying the program is a simple step that would give everyone who relies on it confidence that it will remain in place and continue to serve a critical function in the housing ecosystem,' they wrote. You can read the full report on The Boston Foundation's website. More on housing Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Soaring rents squeeze growing rental voucher program
BOSTON, Mass. (SHNS)–The state budget line item for a safety net rental voucher program has grown significantly in recent years, but housing advocates say Gov. Maura Healey's proposal to boost it an additional 16% in fiscal 2026 only keeps up with inflation due to sky-high housing prices. The governor proposed funding the Mass. Rental Voucher Program, which offers rental assistance to low-income families, at $253 million in fiscal year 2026, up from $219 million this year. Governor Healey signs order supporting Massachusetts construction projects at MBTU event in Springfield There's a long waiting list for vouchers, which housing advocates say are a critical and underfunded piece of the safety-net system. But state spending on vouchers has struggled to keep up with housing inflation. In the fiscal 2023 state budget, lawmakers and Gov. Charlie Baker appropriated about $154 million toward MRVP, which covered about 9,000 vouchers. With a $253 million allocation, the Healey administration estimates it can support just over 11,000 because the cost per voucher has risen along with growing rents. Michael Kane, executive director of the Mass. Alliance of HUD Tenants, said Healey's proposal would essentially level-fund the program without making new vouchers available to the 160,000-person waitlist. There would be a slight increase of about 150 project-based vouchers that were previously awarded but beginning to come online through fiscal 2026, according to the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities. To be eligible for MRVP, a household needs to earn less than 80% of the median income in their area, though researchers in a 2022 study said typical recipients in fact earn less than 30% of area median income. 'These are extremely low-income people on the waitlist, often paying 40 or 50% of their income on rent. And that's not sustainable, that's where homelessness comes from,' Kane said. In that study, analysts found that about 585,000 Massachusetts households qualified for rental assistance based on their incomes, but only about 250,000 received any of a range of available benefits including federal Section 8 vouchers, state and federal public housing, and sub-market housing production. Mass. Alliance of HUD Tenants is part of a coalition of a housing advocacy groups asking for the state to invest $300 million in MRVP in fiscal 2026, which would represent a 37% increase over this year's allocation. Along with 2Life Communities, Haley House, Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, CHAPA, The Boston Foundation and others, the alliance will be on Beacon Hill on Wednesday lobbying lawmakers for the spending increase, as well as legislation to codify the program into law (HD 2020 / S 1008). 'We'll be back every year looking for an expansion,' Kane said, adding that with federal funding cuts looming for Section 8 federal rental vouchers, the state program is about to become even more important. Last year, Healey and Legislature agreed to a 22 percent boost to MRVP. It brought 900 new vouchers online. 'Ensuring strong investment in the Mass. Rental Voucher Program is an important step in the administration's effort to keep people securely housed in the units during a time when housing inflation is increasing across the country,' Housing and Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus told lawmakers during a budget hearing on Monday in Gloucester. In response to increased rents, EOHLC recently started using a new payment standard for its mobile voucher program — which can travel with tenants to new units. The office now uses zip-code level data, rather than metro-area market data, to make vouchers more competitive in expensive markets. Sen. Jake Oliviera, who chaired Monday's budget hearing, called the line item 'very important.' 'And the hundreds of millions of dollars we invest in that program to try to keep rents down, which have been far outpacing the rate of inflation,' he said. 'In fact, in my district and the city of Springfield [to make] the median family rent within the city, you need to earn 120% above the median family income, it's becoming out of reach for many families right now.' Oliviera asked Augustus how the program could become more sustainable. The secretary answered: build more. 'Our lower-wage and lower-income residents can't afford to pay, and that's why it's so important that we not only provide the resources for these safety net programs, but that we build more housing, because ultimately, that is really what's going to take some pressure off this housing market, is creating more units to allow for more vacancy levels,' Augustus said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
