This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Housing Choice Voucher Program, which helps millions of families afford a decent place to live in the private market and is our country’s largest rental assistance program. It’s a milestone close to our heart, as Way Finders was there from the beginning.

Way Finders—then known as the Housing Allowance Project, or HAP—opened its doors in Springfield in 1973 to test this new experimental approach, as did agencies in a dozen other cities across the country. The approach? Boost a family’s access to affordable housing in communities of their choice, instead of continuing to build public housing projects. Through our collective findings, which demonstrated the benefits to families and communities, the pilot effort evolved into what we now know as the Housing Choice Voucher Program. As the single largest federal investment in affordable housing and housing stability, the voucher program impacts how and where people live—ensuring safe, quality, and affordable housing for low-income families, people with disabilities, and older adults.

Launched in February 2024, Way Finders’ HomeBASE Enhanced Stabilization pilot seeks to improve upon the state’s existing two-year HomeBASE program for families who are leaving emergency shelter or who would otherwise be experiencing homelessness. This cross-departmental initiative was inspired by our most recent strategic plan, which included a goal to create longer and more durable housing stability for people who are transitioning out of homelessness and was informed by HomeBASE participants and case managers.

A key part of the pilot is more frequent and responsive case management, especially during the first six months, and greater support when transitioning into and out of the program. It also features ongoing peer support from current and former HomeBASE participants; a provision for flexible funds to help families navigate emergencies; and education that is tailored to a family’s needs. If Way Finders can effectively demonstrate the success of our pilot over the next few years, we will advocate changing state policy for the benefit of residents across the state.

24-26 Los Angeles St. in Springfield, MA by James Paleologopoulos / WAMC

On October 4, 2024, we had much to celebrate at the groundbreaking event for our City of Homes program, which is turning blighted Springfield properties into affordable opportunities for first-time homebuyers. The first property to be rehabilitated—a two-family home in the Liberty Heights neighborhood—was long vacant and abandoned. But as we gathered there with our funders, supporters, and elected officials, it was in celebration of its bright future. For the families it will soon house, and for the neighborhood revitalization it will catalyze.

The City of Homes project—made possible by funding from MassMutual Foundation, MassHousing, Baystate Health, and the City of Springfield—is the brainchild of retired housing court Judge Dina Fein. She envisioned a different future for distressed homes, which under a typical process (“normal receivership”) would be seized by the city to address sanitary code violations and ultimately auctioned off to the highest bidder—often becoming part of someone’s rental portfolio. What if, Fein hypothesized, such a house could instead be sold to a nonprofit that is committed to rehabilitating and selling it to a first-time homebuyer?

The “special attorney receivership” process Fein imagined is now enshrined by law via the state’s Affordable Homes Act, which permits courts to “allow the sale of vacant properties in receivership to nonprofits for fair market value to rehabilitate and sell affordably to income-eligible first-time homebuyers.”

Our work at Way Finders, which is largely in service to clients and communities in the region, sometimes makes an outsized impact. Sometimes it scales up and creates shifts in entire systems. We embrace a pioneering spirit because we believe in the power of good ideas to make things better for our neighbors near and far. If you share this belief, and our drive to improve the housing stability and economic mobility of families and individuals in the region and beyond, please support our work.

Sincerely,

Keith Fairey, President & CEO