Resettlement agencies engaged to help sheltered families find housing, jobs

The Healey-Driscoll administration today launched a $10.5 million partnership with eight resettlement agencies to expand efforts to connect families living in emergency assistance shelters with stable housing and jobs.

Funding for the initiative was included in a fiscal 2023 supplemental budget enacted in December 2023.

Resettlement agencies will use the funding to support exit efforts from emergency assistance shelters by providing rehousing, employment search, and connecting families to other social services like English for Speakers of Other Languages classes and basic needs. The funding will allow the resettlement agencies to place migrant families into permanent housing statewide, helping them to exit shelter or the waitlist for shelter.

“Resettlement agencies bring years of experience to the table of integrating families into towns and neighborhoods across Massachusetts,” said Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll. “They understand what it takes to get a family settled and supported so they can feel at home here.”

The agencies’ staff is “uniquely qualified to meet the needs of immigrants who recently chose Massachusetts as their new home,” said Cristina Aguilera Sandoval, executive director of the Office for Refugees and Immigrants.

Resettlement agencies receiving contracts are Ascentria Community Services, Catholic Charitable Bureau of the Archdiocese of Boston, Jewish Family Service of Metrowest Massachusetts, Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts, Organization for Refugee and Immigrant Success, Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center, The Catholic Charities Agency of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, and the International Institute of New England.

Resettlement agencies also have contracts with the Office for Refugees and Immigrants to provide legal services for obtaining work authorizations and case management for families who are new arrivals to the United States who are in emergency assistance shelters.