For Immediate Release
January 25, 2022
For more information, contact:
Sandi Goldfarb, Rasky Partners
MASSACHUSETTS HOUSING AND SHELTER ALLIANCE RECEIVES $98,000 UNITEDHEALTHCARE COMMUNITY PLAN GRANT
Funding Will Help Develop And Expand Supportive Housing Statewide
BOSTON — Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance (MHSA) has been awarded a $98,000 grant from UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Massachusetts to develop and implement solutions to house adults experiencing homelessness, including those currently living in encampments. The grant will help MHSA leverage private and public resources in response to unsheltered homelessness and expand supportive housing opportunities statewide.
“This generous grant from UnitedHealthcare will support MHSA in ongoing efforts to help cities and towns across the Commonwealth respond to this growing public health and housing crisis,” said Joe Finn, MHSA’s President & Executive Director. “Those without permanent, supportive housing are often coping with complex medical and behavioral health issues. Supportive housing plays a key role in stabilizing this vulnerable population, contributing to their overall health and wellness as well as the public health at large.”
The funding and support from UnitedHealthcare will enable MHSA to identify, create and expedite the development of the critical low-threshold housing needed to transition unsheltered adults from encampments — like the one at “Mass & Cass” and those springing up in other communities across the state — to stable housing that provides easy access to a wide range of essential services. MHSA will work with its statewide network of housing and service providers as well as its partners in the Massachusetts Alliance for Supportive Housing (MASH)—United Way of Massachusetts Bay & Merrimack Valley and the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH)— providing technical assistance, consultation, and resource development strategies for this life-saving initiative.
“At UnitedHealthcare it is our goal to expand capacity for organizations like MHSA, a team on the frontlines working to ensure all individuals statewide have access to basic resources like housing and healthcare,” said John Madondo, Chief Executive Officer of UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Massachusetts. “Together, we can help some of the most vulnerable members of our community live healthier lives.”
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About MHSA
The Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance (MHSA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending homelessness in Massachusetts. MHSA focuses on evidence-based solutions that reduce public reliance on emergency resources and prioritize access to stable housing and individualized support services. MHSA draws on the on-the-ground experience of its almost 100 member agencies from across Massachusetts. MHSA’s unique position as an intermediary between public agencies and homeless service providers enables it to create solutions to homelessness that have the greatest impact. For more information, please visit www.mhsa.net.
About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people live healthier lives and making the health system work better for everyone by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. In the United States, UnitedHealthcare offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 1.3 million physicians and care professionals, and 6,500 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. The company also provides health benefits and delivers care to people through owned and operated health care facilities in South America. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified health care company. For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com or follow @UHC on Twitter.