We all know that assisting clients with housing issues—seeking housing or stabilizing existing housing—is among the most demanding, stress-laden challenges we cope with. We also know that the landscape of affordable, low-income, and supportive housing options is complex. It seems that no matter how many resources we gather and training opportunities we take, there’s always more to learn, or a new scenario that defies our knowledge of what’s available to help.
For those who want to dig into this area of knowledge, MassHousing has an excellent series of trainings: Housing Stability Trainings. They provide support to housing advocates as well as property managers of rental units to increase their capacity to support tenants and cope in a fair and humane way with conflicts that arise.
Who and what is MassHousing? It is a quasi-public agency that works in partnership with the state, in particular the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, to finance the growth of affordable housing. It also supports first-time, low- and moderate-income home-buyers. An example of how they support the initiatives of the state is their administration of Neighborhood Stabilization Program grants.
MassHousing also maintains a searchable database of affordable rental housing.
Learning about what MassHousing does and its various training opportunities is a great way to increase your housing literacy and learn about bigger picture state initiatives to improve housing access.
