The Boston Housing Authority is administering a local voucher program, funded by the City of Boston through its annual budget. BHA worked with the City and local housing advocates to co-design the City of Boston Voucher Program (CBVP). The CBVP is used primarily to make existing income-restricted housing affordable to low-income and extremely low-income renters in Boston. This is accomplished through project based vouchers, tied to a particular private or nonprofit development, which ensure new or existing tenants pay no more than 30% of income. A limited set of tenant based (i.e. mobile, within Boston) vouchers may also be made available at the BHA's discretion.
This program leverages strong relationships between public agencies, like BHA, Boston Public Schools (BPS), Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development and the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development to create housing opportunities for homeless BPS families, residents facing displacement, households in the state shelter system, and other vulnerable populations.
Due to the limited number of vouchers:
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We are using a closed referral system, through the partners described above. Clients cannot apply directly to the BHA for the CBVP. This ensures staff time is focused on housing individuals and families as opposed to managing long waitlists.
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Only households who meet eligibility criteria AND additional prioritization criteria will be referred to the BHA.
The rules and governing policy of the CBVP may be viewed here.