Mission and Philosophy

In 1993, family shelter executives came together with a shared goal to increase advocacy efforts and to include the voices of consumers and service providers – those families that have experienced and are experiencing homelessness and those that work most closely with them – in the efforts to end family homelessness in Massachusetts. In 1994, these pioneers created Homes for Families, an organization committed to the promoting partnerships in the efforts to end family homelessness in the Commonwealth.

Mission

Homes for Families is a statewide advocacy organization committed to ending family homelessness through permanent and emergency solutions. We are a collaborative of families who have experienced homelessness, service providers and advocates. Together we educate, organize and advocate for improved public policies to address the root causes of family homelessness with holistic and community-based solutions.

Philosophy

Partnerships and collaboration: We seek to involve all stakeholders in our work to end family homelessness: parents who have been or are currently homeless; shelter providers; advocates; policy makers; developers; universities; faith communities and others. Together, we have the knowledge, ability and responsibility to affectively address the issue of family homelessness in our state.

Parent participation/perspective: Families who have experienced homelessness are truly the experts on the issue. To ensure that families are fully engaged partners in our mission, we create opportunities for parents to develop their leadership potential and to play leading roles in advocacy and HFF governance.

Holistic approach: We look at the root causes of homelessness and define permanent and emergency solutions. The solutions must involve systemic policy analysis; change to those policies and the continued empowerment of families and the provider community that serves them.

Our guiding principles:

• We know that family homelessness is solvable;
• We know that family homelessness is caused by a lack of truly affordable housing;
• We know that many jobs simply do not pay a living wage allowing families to afford market rent and other basic necessities; and
• We know that our current system of addressing family homelessness in Massachusetts must be recreated, shifting resources from a homeless first approach to a housing first solution.