Kevin Sheehan Executive Director I want to thank you for visiting us at the Cambridge Housing Assistance Fund. Homelessness on a daily basis is terrifying, draining, and damaging. Dreams and lives are silenced, and children and adults are at risk for their safety. Financial assistance is sometimes the only consideration between a person or a family and the bitter cold. The cycle of generosity you are helping create as a friend to our organization, as a donor, or as a sponsor to CHAF is changing the landscape of our community. Social problems that people once thought insoluble are being solved, and people are coming together to make an important difference. The first impulse a family has when it gets new housing is often to invite friends who are still homeless to come in out of the cold and share the new home. That level of generosity displayed regularly by people in the midst of the greatest life crises keeps us all driving forward here every day to get involved and to solve the problem once and for all.

CHAF's Mission

The Cambridge Housing Assistance Fund (CHAF) is committed to preserving the diversity and character of the city of Cambridge by providing an economical bridge to housing for homeless and near homeless families and individuals.  Funds donated to CHAF assist those in need with the startup costs of rental housing.

The Cambridge Housing Assistance Fund is a broad-based community partnership of businesses, institutions, individuals and community leaders pulling together to break the cycle of homelessness.  Since its inception in 1999, CHAF has raised over $1,000,000 - enough to open doors to more than 1,000 households.

CHAF is operated by the Cambridge Community of Realtors in a public/private partnership with the Cambridge banking community, HomeStart, the Cambridge Multi-Service Center for the Homeless, the Cambridge Housing Authority and CASCAP.

HomeStart, Inc.

HomeStart, Inc. seeks to end homelessness in Greater Boston by assisting individuals in obtaining permanent housing and settling into the community.  HomeStart develops strategies to address systemic barriers to housing placement and, ultimately, to break the cycle of chronic homelessness.  Its direct services help homeless men and women secure and maintain affordable housing and achieve successful, independent living in the community. 

It also is dedicated to the creation of regionally coordinated housing services through its training workshops, regional meetings, housing publications and lead role in efforts to obtain new housing resources. HomeStart has an office in Central Square to offer services to Cambridge homeless.

The Cambridge Multi-Service Center for the Homeless

The Cambridge Multi-Service Center for the Homeless helps homeless and near-homeless people from the Cambridge area locate and maintain stable, appropriate housing by providing counseling, home search and stabilization services.  The city of Cambridge Department of Human Services Program in collaboration with several other agencies, including HomeStart, Inc., operates the Multi-Service Center.

Programs sponsored by the city of Cambridge at the Center include the Family Housing Search, the Transitional Shelter Program, the Elder/Disabled Housing Assistance Program, Human Services Case Management and the Haitian Services Collaborative.