Karen had been living a normal life – some would describe it as the American Dream. She had a stable job at a hospital and her husband was doing well in his job as a surveyor. The couple had a young daughter and lived in a suburb north of Boston.
Even though Karen lost her job at the hospital, the family remained financially stable thanks to her unemployment benefits and husband’s salary.
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Suddenly though, her life was turned upside down when her husband suffered an episode of cardiogenic shock – on the very day that her unemployment benefits ran out. After a month in the hospital, he returned home, disabled an unable to return to work.
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“I began a journey that I never anticipated I would have to go through in my lifetime,” said Karen.
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Karen had been paying market rate rent, but with no unemployment assistance and her husband unable to work, she needed help from anyplace she could.
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“There are so many people looking for assistance that you are like one in a million. The experience showed me how much you really have to fight and have the resilience to keep getting up because you are often denied. I contacted countless agencies, associations, government officials, and applied for loans and grants before I found help.”
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Karen heard of Metro Housing and the RAFT program through a social worker at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where her husband was being treated. She had worked in hospitals herself, helping patients and their families navigate through various services and programs but had never heard of RAFT or Metro Housing.
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The RAFT application process was arduous for Karen, with delays due to the high number of applications for assistance.
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“I sent emails to whatever emails I could find at Metro Housing. Something inside of me told me to keep going, and something will be there,” said Karen. “The very next day, Felisha Marshall from Metro Housing’s Housing Supports division called me. Though she did not work directly for RAFT, she said she knew people at Metro Housing that could help me. After verifying my information, she called me to say Metro Housing could help me with my rental arrears. I just started crying.”
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To help Karen further, Metro Housing provided her with basic home necessities through its Emergency Assistance Fund. “For the first time in a long time, I had my rent paid, I had food, cleaning supplies. I felt like a new woman,” said Karen.
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Though Karen is still facing some financial hurdles, she greatly appreciates the help she received from Metro Housing.
"Metro Housing has changed my entire existence over the course of the last several years. The emotions I ran through during this process were unending and in many cases emotions that I never thought I would feel or ever wanted to feel. It was an empowering feeling when I got the phone call from Metro Housing that the years of diligence and hope had actually worked out. Without that help, I honestly do not know where we would be today.”
– KAREN
RAFT+
The state-funded RAFT program is a homelessness prevention program for households with very low incomes experiencing a housing crisis. Traditionally, eligible households applied for up to $4,000 in emergency assistance over 12 months to retain existing housing, obtain new housing, or otherwise avoid becoming homeless. With the pandemic, RAFT funding was supplemented with two other emergency housing payment assistance programs - ERMA (Emergency Rent and Mortgage Assistance) and ERAP (Emergency Rent Assistance Program) – as well as multiple municipality-specific options.