Brookline Homelessness Transitional Program Brings Hope Amid Housing Woes

By: Mary Vitale

BROOKLINE – Social worker and coordinator of Brookline’s Homelessness Outreach Program Wendy Northrop chats with tenant Brittany in her small two-bedroom apartment during one of their required weekly check-in visits. Brittany reports she received a raise at her new job as a CVS cashier and her two-year-old daughter Alice is getting over her cold. But she still has only have seven months to achieve her financial goals to remain in affordable housing.

Brittany, whose full name is protected under confidentiality, is a 27-year-old single mother accepted into the Homelessness Outreach Program in January. The program, provided by the Brookline Mental Health Center, helps homeless families make the transition from shelters to permanent housing. Northrop said the program usually takes a year, while families can live in apartments rent-free as they work to meet goals set by the program and Brookline Housing Authority. The goals include finding a secure job, saving a certain amount of money and complying with the rules set forth by the program.

“Financial stability is surely the key goal of this program, but it is not the only thing required to be accepted and to be able to graduate,” said Susan Barnette, member of the Brookline Housing Authority and supervisor of the Homelessness Outreach Program said. “We want to see these people be self sufficient in all aspects of their lives.”
Northrop, who has worked with the program for three years, said 95 percent of families graduate the program.

“This is a wonderful transitional program for these families,” Northrop said. “It helps people get themselves and their children out of poverty, and it teaches them how to live independently.”
Tfawa Haynes, another social worker and psychiatrist at the Brookline Mental Health Center, works mainly with families at the town’s homeless shelter and said he always tries to refer families to Northrop when they meet the necessary criteria for admission into the program.

“The outreach program is a great way for families to transition out of the shelter,” Haynes said. “But sometimes transition isn’t the solution for all families. Some of them require substance abuse counseling or rehab before they can be considered for transition into permanent housing.”

Those experiencing drug or alcohol addiction must receive treatment before they can be considered for the program. Northrop said Haynes’ work helps find families who fit the criteria for admission.

“We have to consider the safety of all our tenants, so those homeless still involved in criminal behavior cannot be admitted to our program until they have proven themselves eligible,” Northrop said.

Once families graduate the program, they become permanent tenants in housing units provided by the Brookline Housing Authority and pay 32 percent of their income as rent.

“One of our top priorities has always been getting people out of various homeless shelters and into proper housing,” said Brian Cloonan, executive director of Brookline Housing Authority. “We try to work closely with shelters and outreach programs to mutually achieve our goals.”

Northrop said the program might be cut from a year to nine months, because of pressure from the housing authority and the welfare system to move people through the program as quickly as possible.

“Only 10 families are allowed to remain on the program at one time,” Northrop said. “Recently, homeless shelters in Brookline and Boston have become overcrowded so housing authority has been putting pressure on us to quickly move people through the program.”

Barnette said the town’s budget and the program’s long waiting list require a cut in the duration of the program.

“We feel that families should be able to prove they have become self sufficient within the nine month period,” Barnette said.

Brittany said the Brookline Mental Health Center has been wonderful for her and her daughter, but the requirements of the program can be difficult.

“Nine months isn’t that much time, but luckily I have this job at CVS now,” she said. “Hopefully that’ll help me save enough money to be able to stay here permanently.”

Brittany, like other women in the program, has been in and out of shelters and scattered site apartments for the last few years. Northrop said many single mothers get kicked out of their apartments for not being able to pay their rent or flee to the program as victims of domestic violence.

Brittany said after she unexpectedly had Alice, she found herself struggling to make ends meet. While living in a shelter in Boston, she found an application for the Brookline Homelessness Outreach Program and thought it would be an improvement.

“I said to myself, ‘Hey take a shot,” she said. “And I’m glad I did because Wendy’s been so wonderful from finding me an apartment to helping me get daycare and also helping me to set and maintain my own goals. I am very grateful to her and the outreach program.”

Brittany said she hopes to graduate the outreach program, make enough money to get herself off welfare and became a licensed cosmetologist.
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