MassHousing has awarded $447,671 in grant funding to six nonprofit organizations to help create 12 affordable sober housing units and preserve 31, and to fund supportive services to men, women and families impacted by substance use disorder. The grants come from the Center for Community Recovery Innovations, Inc. (CCRI), a nonprofit subsidiary corporation of MassHousing that helps nonprofit organizations create or preserve affordable sober housing in Massachusetts for individuals in recovery.
“CCRI serves some of our state’s most vulnerable residents who are working to overcome or are impacted by substance misuse,” said MassHousing CEO Chrystal Kornegay. “This funding helps mission-based organizations that work every day to help people recover from addiction by providing quality housing in a sober setting with supportive services.”
The CCRI grants include:
- Lazarus House, Lawrence, $200,000
- MassHousing grant funds will help create five new and renovate 31 sober housing units for women and their children in Lawrence.
- Power Forward, Inc., Marshfield, $40,000
- Grant funds will help develop software to optimize the organization’s tracking of its sober housing funding for individuals receiving rental assistance scholarships, track new vacancies at sober homes, and advance coordination with several of their long-term sober home partners with the goal of expanding to all Massachusetts Alliance for Sober Housing (MASH) approved sober homes.
- Mental Health Association Inc., Springfield, $108,592
- Grant funding will help create seven new units of affordable sober housing for Department of Mental Health clients in Springfield.
- Gilly’s House Inc., Wrentham, $28,579
- Grant funding will help finance repairs to preserve 11 units of affordable sober housing for men in Wrentham.
- Self Esteem Boston Educational Institute, Boston/Lynn/Springfield, $30,500
- Grant funding will support job readiness and goal setting education and training for women with online aftercare support.
- Dismas Housing of Massachusetts, Inc., Worcester, $40,000
- Grant funding will help the expansion of the BAR None Program, in which volunteer attorneys provide free legal services and referrals and connection to recovery services for men upon release from correctional facilities.
The Center for Community Recovery Innovations, Inc., issues an annual Request for Proposals (RFP) to solicit projects for funding. The proposals that are selected need to meet CCRI’s current priorities and eligibility categories. The grants are typically used as one-time gap funding for capital projects that increase or improve the stock of affordable sober housing in Massachusetts. Other proposals that provide services for residents in MassHousing-financed rental housing, specifically those that address alcohol and/or drug abuse or addiction, are also considered for funding. CCRI grant recipients must be 501c3 non-profit organizations and matching funds must be provided. All proposals and applicant qualifications are stringently reviewed and vetted by MassHousing.
MassHousing (The Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency) is an independent, quasi-public agency created in 1966 and charged with providing financing for affordable housing in Massachusetts. The Agency raises capital by selling bonds and lends the proceeds to low- and moderate-income homebuyers and homeowners, and to developers who build or preserve affordable and/or mixed-income rental housing. MassHousing does not use taxpayer dollars to sustain its operations, although it administers some publicly funded programs on behalf of the Commonwealth. Since its inception, MassHousing has provided more than $29 billion for affordable housing.
