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Amid a national recession and widespread unemployment linked to the pandemic, Metro Housing|Boston set a record in June for distribution of housing assistance.
The quasi-public agency directed more than $1 million to enrollees in the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition, or RAFT, program last month, which a spokesman said is “more than any other month in the history of the program.”
Metro Housing and other regional housing organizations worked with the state Department of Housing and Community Development to increase assistance available in the Emergency Rental and Mortgage Assistance, which similar to RAFT offers aid to households facing potential eviction or foreclosure for missed payments. In a Tuesday press release, Metro Housing said the ERMA program has $20 million available statewide through June 2021.
“The impact of this relief for property owners cannot be understated,” Metro Housing Executive Director Chris Norris said in a press release. “Not only do these property owners provide housing for thousands of renters in our region, but their own housing stability is at risk. It is in everyone’s interest that renters and owners alike get this help.”
