Home & Healthy for Good

In 2006, MHSA introduced Home & Healthy for Good (HHG) to Massachusetts. It became the Commonwealth’s first statewide Housing First initiative in the effort to end homelessness. HHG provides permanent supportive housing for people experiencing chronic and long-term homelessness, who tend to represent the highest usage of costly emergency public services.

HHG has received state and national recognition for its impact in reducing homelessness in Massachusetts, and the program has also become a template for implementation in other parts of the country. MHSA’s own PFS program was based on the HHG model. The concept is very straightforward: providing housing and supportive services to individuals experiencing chronic or long-term homelessness through a low-threshold, Housing First approach is less costly and more effective than managing their homelessness and health problems on the street or in shelter.

This program has generated an estimated annual healthcare savings of $5,267 to the Commonwealth per participant (link to BCBS of Massachusetts Foundation study). With access to supportive services through HHG, individuals no longer need to rely on public emergency services as their primary sources of care. Instead, tenants are able to access preventative and primary health care, better coordinate with behavioral health providers and maintain their housing, rather than using more costly services such as emergency shelters and detox facilities.

Since 2006, HHG has placed 1,457 individuals experiencing chronic or long-term homelessness into permanent supportive housing, with 900+ units of permanent supportive housing backed with HHG funding.

View the most recent HHG report here: HHG Report – March 2023