MLCS Community Assessment
In September of 2020, MLCS reached out to NU Law Lab for housing assistance support for families who had sought us out for support with food insecurity. Identifying the needs of these families prior to the lifting of the housing evictions moratorium in October was our first concern. Nu Law Lab responded by helping to install their first neighborhood housing defense station here in East Boston. Soon thereafter they invited us to participate in the Housing Support Coalition, a coalition of groups working to help people remain in their housing. Our goal was to identify everyone in our food lines in need of additional assistance around housing and who might be at risk of becoming homeless. It was important to us that we identify and help to support these families. We began working on a housing insecurity assessment with 5 Mutual Aid Eastie volunteers to capture critical information.
Of the nearly 500 families on our food list, approximately 20 percent were at imminent risk of losing their shelter. Included in this survey are families who owe significant back rent and/or have been served notices to quit their homes. A handful of families were referred to us by partner organizations. The information in this report shows how vulnerable these families are and that they were deeply struggling pre-pandemic, entering into informal housing arrangements to maintain shelter.
ALL of the families in this survey have children and nearly 50 percent have 3 to four children in their homes. Some of these families are sizable and over 20 percent have 5+ children in their home.
We found that many families are in unhealthy living arrangements in close quarters with other families. They might for example, share a single room in a two-bedroom apartment with another family. Approximately 77.4 percent indicated they lived in an apartment and 22.6 percent stated that they lived in a room of an apartment with other people.
Approximately 50.8 percent of families surveyed indicated they were part of an informal housing arrangement. These informal arrangements are common in East Boston and are a reflection of rising housing costs and family inability to pay rising rents. Over half of the families surveyed were in informal housing arrangements pre-pandemic because they could not afford current housing rates.
Only 50.8 percent of the people responding indicated they were listed on a lease while 49.2 percent indicated that they were not on a lease. When asked about their housing arrangements, we found that that the answers provided about leases closely reflected family housing arrangements.
Approximately 41.7 percent of these families indicated that they have been living in their current space less than two years and 38.3 percent had been in their current housing for 3 to 5 years suggesting that they majority of these families had been moving around and experiencing housing instability pre-pandemic.
The level of rental debt owed by these families is most startling given that these are families were already struggling pre-pandemic. Approximately 27.4 percent owe more than 5K; 35.5 percent owe 2 to 5k. For many families – the majority of whom are out of work, these figures have increased since this assessment was completed
While most of the families reported being several months in rental arears, as of the time of this assessment they had not yet been served notices to quit and were apparently supported by the federal moratorium. We expect this to change given recent events regarding the constitutionality of the moratorium
Food Insecurity
We asked some follow up food insecurity questions on this assessment. Not surprisingly over 72 percent were still struggling with some level of food insecurity. We have taken the time to ensure that we are prioritizing these families for food support.
When asked about food insecurity frequency the majority of people nearly 60 percent reported experiencing food security 2 to 3 times per week. An additional 17 percent reported experiencing food in security at least once per week.
Data Source: Maverick Landing Community Services housing assessment Jan 2021. For permission to use the data or to request the data source please contact MLCS.