On March 25, Governor Baker announced that the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) issued guidance to all private affordable housing operators and state-aided public housing operators to suspend non-emergency evictions. DHCD is also temporarily suspending termination of federal and state rental vouchers under their purview and automatically extending the housing search term afforded to voucher holders until 30-days after the state of emergency ends.
In addition, the Governor announced that Mass Housing is contributing $5 million to a special fund under the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT) program. This will provide up to $4,000 to households facing instability as a result of a COVID-19 related loss of wages or expense increases in order to help them preserve current housing or move to new housing.
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