boston homeworks program

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Specific programs

The amount offered through this program differs depending on the type of home and the owner’s qualifications. Your income needs to be at or below 135% of the Area Median Income (AMI) as indicated by the HUD Income Limits . Applicants between 120-135% AMI must provide an even dollar for dollar match.

• $20,000 for condominiums owners
• $30,000 for single family homes
• $40,000 for two family homes, and
• $50,000 for three and four family homes

Apply for HomeWorks HELP

This is a 0% interest, deferred payment home repair loan for everything from minor repairs to replacements of heating systems. Loan amounts are determined by the necessity of health and safety repairs.

This program is available to owner-occupant homeowners of 1-4 family homes, who are at least 62 years of age, and earn less than 80% of Area Median Income (AMI) as indicated by the HUD Income Limits .

Apply for Senior Home Repair

 $10,000 per housing unit may be available to homeowners to mitigate lead paint, along with technical help to ensure compliance with Massachusetts’ Lead Law. The following may qualify for Leadsafe Boston:

• Owner-occupants of 1–4 unit homes or condos earning at or below 80% of Community Development Block Grant Income (CDBG) as indicated by the HUD Income Limits
• Investor owners of 1–4 unit buildings must prove that at least 50% of the building's residents are low- or moderate-income. Remaining units must be occupied by families with an income at 80% or below of CDBG Moderate Income.

Apply for Leadsafe Boston

This program is for senior homeowners aged 60 years and older who earn less than 80% of Area Median Income (AMI) as indicated by the HUD Income Limits  There is an $8,000 grant to help eligible homeowners replace their aging heating systems. There is also a 0% interest deferred loan for the balance of the replacement. Heating systems that have already been replaced are not eligible for the program. Seniors Save is not a reimbursement program.

Apply for Seniors Save

Multilingual Information

BHA First Home Program

First home program overview, receive up to $75,000 in home buying assistance when you purchase a home in boston, (assistance includes down payment, closing cost and other eligible fees), click here to complete the first home program application.

WITHIN the City of Boston

Outside the city of boston, mortgage subsidy, steps to getting started.

• Tell us more about you by completing the First Home Application

General Eligibility Information

• Be a current BHA resident
• Be a first-time home-buyer (Have not owned a home in the last 3 years)
• Have completed a first-time homebuyer class within the last 3 years
• (at least 1% of purchase price; for example, 1% of a home priced at $400,000 = $4,000)
• If you are an FSS participant and have an escrow balance, your escrow can be used to meet this requirement
• Interested in becoming preapproved for a mortgage

Stay connected and up to date

Credit Counseling Boot Camp

First-time homebuyer education and pre- and post-purchase counseling, home improvement & repairs, volunteer income tax assistance (vita) center, family supports, housing leadership, financial counseling.

• Foreclosure Prevention Counseling

Keeping Your Housing

Strong start program, student loan borrower repayment counseling, summer youth jobs, all programs and classes.

We have shifted to online classes until further notice. Our Credit Counseling Boot Camp is a 3 hour intensive, instructor lead class on credit basics that covers the essentials of credit ranging from the definition of credit to building good credit and obtaining and reading a credit report.  Upon completion […]

Due to the on-going COVID-19 situation, we have shifted to online classes until further notice.  Urban Edge’s first-time homebuyer education provides participants with a thorough understanding of the home purchasing process, including an introduction to the mortgage process, understanding credit standards, conventional lending criteria and preparing for the loan closing. The […]

Urban Edge understands that being a homeowner is more than just buying the home. Maintenance and upkeep costs can be hard on a homeowner, especially with unexpected home repairs. Urban Edge offers referrals to HUD-approved participating lenders and agents (listed in alphabetical order): Participating Agent/Lender: City of Boston: HomeWorks HELP […]

Our VITA program 2024 has now ended. Thank you for a great year!  About VITA The VITA Center provides tax assistance and online filing of Federal and State returns for individuals and families. Volunteers who have completed IRS training provide individualized, one-on-one service on a walk-in basis. Clients are assisted […]

Urban Edge has a long history of supporting families by helping them gain access to resources that they might otherwise find beyond reach. The Urban Edge staff works closely with the residents living in its properties, so is keenly aware of residents’ needs. Each year, our staff collects donations from […]

Urban Edge helps resident associations design and implement programs that improve the quality of life at their housing developments. Resident associations work on a daily basis with Urban Edge to oversee plans and projects and meet monthly with WinnResidential – the property management company involved with Urban Edge developments – […]

Residents living in Urban Edge housing and clients visiting the VITA Center may ask at any time to receive individualized, one-on-one financial counseling in order to reduce their debt, improve their credit score, or just learn how to create and maintain a household budget. Residents also learn the importance of saving […]

Providing individualized, one-on-one counseling, Urban Edge staff members analyze the household’s budget and reviews options to prevent foreclosure. Some of those options include forbearance, loan modifications, short sales and buy-backs by Boston Community Capital. Since 2006, Urban Edge has counseled more than 1,300 at-risk homeowners to prevent foreclosure. In 2020, […]

Urban Edge initiatives help to keep residents in their homes. Our Community Engagement staff works closely with residents as well as WinnResidential – the property management company involved with Urban Edge developments – to maximize stable tenancy for residents of Urban Edge-owned properties. First, we assess the needs of residents […]

The Strong Start Program was launched in 2013 to provide an opportunity for parents to help develop children’s literacy skills, expose preschool children to a school setting, build parenting skills and knowledge about child development, and build social cohesion amongst families. This free 12-week program offers: Parenting strategies to support […]

Hard-pressed families struggling to pay their mortgage and juggle other bills may miss a student loan payment and damage their credit. Mortgage lenders reviewing applications for refinancing or loan modifications would push back until student loan arrearages were cleared up. Parents who co-signed their children’s student loans, or who were […]

Urban Edge runs a summer Youth Leadership Academy in partnership with Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) through which young people who live in Urban Edge properties are placed in meaningful jobs, either in the neighborhood or throughout the City of Boston. Urban Edge has placed young people in jobs […]

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Homework Assistance Program (HAP) Mentors Give Thanks

• December 7, 2020
• Stories , Unlocking Opportunity

The Boston Public Library’s Homework Assistance Program (HAP) provides free, 100% accessible academic support for thousands of K-8 students in the city. HAP also provides employment and post-secondary skills development for over 50 high-achieving Boston ‘Teen Mentors’ each year. These exceptional youth deliver a cumulative 10,000 group and one-on-one tutoring lessons annually.

Below are quotes from mentors who share why they are thankful for the HAP program and your continued support :

The best part of HAP to me is working with the kids and seeing how they are doing when they come to visit every week. Ayat Yusef, 17, Boston Latin Academy

The best part of HAP to me is being able to see the faces of the students when they are satisfied with what they learned at each HAP session. Tiffany Trinh, 17, Boston Latin School

Thank you for all the support! The best part of the HAP program to me is being able to build friendships and bonds with the younger students. Franchezca Plaisival, 16, The Academy of the Pacific Rim

Thank you so much for the support you have offered us; the best part of HAP for me has been the intermissions between doing assignments, where kids get to talk about their day, and crack me up in the process. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season! Davian Rodriguez, 17, Boston Latin School

I want to thank you for all your support, personally. Your support means a lot to me and everyone at HAP. I came to HAP because I love working with kids, and I love school, so that combination fits perfectly with the job. The best part of HAP to me is helping the kids. I find it was so fun and enjoyable to work with kids younger than me. It is always a fun time if that’s either helping them with homework or even playing education games. And that is all so possible with the help and support of you. I hope you have a wonderful, safe, Thanksgiving and best wishes for a healthy and safe holiday season. Eric Moussignac, 16, Saint Joseph Prep

The best part of the HAP program to me is getting to work with different kids and helping them with their homework. I got to learn so many things from them. Nelissa Timothee, 17, TechBoston Academy

Thank you for all your support. The best part of HAP to me is the fact that I get to virtually meet and mentor students all over Boston. Daniela Acuna, 15, Boston Latin Academy

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Wow! It was so inspiring to have nearly 100 guests join us for a very special Morning Brew yesterday to discuss social services in the public library space. Co-hosted with the Liberty Mutual Foundation, our incredible speakers emphasized that supporting those most in need requires a collective effort, one that enhances integration and fosters partnerships. Special thanks to our moderators Melissa MacDonnell, Liberty Mutual Foundation President, and David Leonard, BPL President for guiding such an important conversation. Thank you, also, to our three panelists who offered their wisdom and insights: Taylor Morris, Boston Public Library Social Worker; Gary Bailey, MSW Program Director and Professor of Practice at Simmons University’s School of Social Work; and Bisola Ojikutu, Commissioner of Public Health, City of Boston. If you attended, please share your thoughts in the comments below. We’d love to hear what you thought of this event! @healthyboston @libertymutual @simmonsuniversity

So fun seeing a group of our Emerging Leaders getting "lost in the stacks" for their monthly book club at the BPL!📚

This Mother’s Day, we are thankful for the mother figures in our lives who inspire us to follow in their footsteps. Evangeline Grove, a member of the BPLF Emerging Leaders, was inspired to join the group by her mother, Hannah Grove, who serves as Vice-Chair of the BPLF Board of Directors. Evangeline shares, “It’s been incredible to follow in my mom’s footsteps of advancing the sustainability of the Boston Public Library (BPL) as a place of healing, community, and inclusion for our Greater Boston community. My mom is always my greatest inspiration, as she is an advocate for equity and ensuring that everyone in Boston has a place where they are safe, fed, and cared for.” Thank you, Evangeline and Hannah, for your service and support!

We are one week away from Morning Brew! With just a few spots left, register now! Link in bio! May 16 7:30-9:00am Newsfeed Café, Central Library Copley Square

Libby is a hugely popular app that the Boston Public Library uses to offer ebooks and audiobooks. By logging in with your library card or eCard, you have access to an incredible amount of content for free. Register now for this online workshop, hosted by Librarian Jenn Adams, on how to access and navigate the features of the Libby app! You can register for the event on bpl.org!

You’ve met the panelists, now it’s time to introduce our Morning Brew moderators! Liberty Mutual Foundation President Melissa MacDonnell and Boston Public Library President David Leonard will lead panelists through a discussion on how public libraries are shaping the future of community support. Register today using link in bio! Morning Brew: May 16 7:30–9:00am Newsfeed Café, Central Library in Copley Square

Adventure awaits and it begins at the Boston Public Library! This summer, we urge our community to join the Boston Public Library Fund to help provide free books and programs to Boston`s youth! Your support will foster a lifelong love for reading and learning so that teens and children can have adventures between the pages and beyond. Support Summer Reading at the BPL today! Make your gift to the Boston Public Library Fund by using link in bio!

♦Mondays Made Magical with Acts of Giving♦ We love hearing from donors on why they choose to support the Boston Public Library Fund! Comment below on why you support the BPLF!

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Energy efficiency, simplified

We make it easy for homeowners to reduce their energy costs and carbon footprints. As a Mass Save® partner and the largest Home Performance Contractor in Massachusetts, it’s our business to make your home – and wallet – greener.

Home Energy Assessments

Receive a custom home energy report, access Mass Save® rebates, get eligible no-cost items & learn how to save year-round.

Insulation & Air Sealing

Make your home more comfortable all year long with Mass Save incentives like 75%+ off insulation and 100% off air sealing.

Get quality furnance and boiler repairs and preventative maintenance, plus ask about 0% financing and rebates for upgrades.

Get your AC fixed or serviced, plus ask about our no-cost Heating & Cooling Consultation to learn about your units’ energy-efficiency.

Ductless Solutions

Solve your heating and cooling needs with ductless mini-splits & ask about big rebates to help cover the upgrade cost.

HVAC Repairs & Maintenance

Keep your HVAC system running efficiently and avoid surprise break-downs. Need an HVAC system repaired? We’ve got you covered.

Why Choose HomeWorks Energy?

HomeWorks Energy is a trusted Mass Save® partner, helping Massachusetts neighbors all over the state save energy and money at home. Our BPI-certified home energy experts have performed more than 200,000 Home Energy Assessments and we’re proud to be the largest Home Performance Contractor in Massachusetts, leading the region in energy efficiency.

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Homework Assistance Program

The Homework Assistance Program (HAP) is a free after-school service led by Harvard University trained teen mentors that offers homework help, mentorship, and activities for students in grades K–8.

Details about the program will be updated, please check back for more information.

Other Homework Help Resources

Boston teachers union tutors.

The Boston Teachers Union (BTU) program will be available at BPL branches beginning on September, 25, 2023. The last day of tutoring for the school year is May 23, 2024. See the 2023 BTU tutor flyer including libraries, addresses, and night(s) open.

Online help courtesy of the BPL

• LearningExpress Library  can help students from grade school through college improve their skills by taking practice tests, completing exercises, and reading eBooks. What's more, LearningExpress can help college-bound students prepare for the ACT, SAT, and other standardized tests.
• Look for books, CDs, movies, and more in the  BPL catalog .
• Search for articles and use books online with our  student electronic resources .

Other online help

• Check out the  MCAS help , opens a new window  available from the MA Department of Education.
• Prepare for the SAT or ACT for free at  Number2.com , opens a new window  or  The College Board , opens a new window .

Homework Help Mentors

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HOMESTART AFFIRMS  BLACK LIVES MATTER  

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Are you at risk of or in the process of being evicted?

We have prevented more than 5,000 evictions in Greater Boston. 95% of our clients are still housed after 48 months.

HOUSING SEARCH

Do you need help finding housing.

We have helped find permanent housing for more than 15,000 individuals experiencing homelessness in the Greater Boston area.

STABILIZATION

Do you need help managing your housing.

We support, on average, 500 people per year to stay off the street and sustain their housing.

Learn more about HomeStart's work in our new Impact Report!

HomeStart Staff Are Working a hybrid schedule and are serving clients in-person at our office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays.

HomeStart staff are spending time in the office as well as in the field, on-site at partner organizations and working remotely. We are serving clients in-person at our office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Current clients are encouraged to call their advocates to make an appointment or ensure that they will be in the office upon arrival. In order to do our part to keep our employees, our clients and the community safe, staff and visitors are required to wear a mask at all times. We continue to rely heavily on technology to communicate and conduct business. We can still be reached by email or phone but please be patient if there is a delay in our usual timeframe for responding.  

For our Eviction Prevention Hotline , please call 857-415-2900.

For general inquiries or updates , please leave us a voicemail at 617-542-0338 or email us at [email protected] . 

If you need assistance

Eviction prevention hotline, 1-857-415-2900.

If you owe back rent and are trying to stay in your apartment, we may be able to help.

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Currently suspended due to office closure

We offer brief, one-time housing search consultations to anyone who needs assistance with the affordable housing search process. You will most likely not receive an advocate at this time.

FOR LANDLORDS

Do you own rental property in the Boston area? Are you trying to fill a vacancy? Click below to access our Landlord Portal and to connect with our staff.

Matthew Desmond

    Professor of Sociology-Princeton University      MacArthur Genius Fellowship recipient and      Pulitzer Prize-Winning author of Evicted:

     Poverty and Profit in the American City

RENEW COLLABORATIVE

Over the past decade HomeStart has developed an economically sustainable and scalable program that prevents homelessness. The Renew Collaborative is a disruptive social innovation premised on a simple cost-benefit argument for the benefit of eviction prevention and driven by the stunning social outcomes of the program. Our goal is to eliminate homelessness due to non-payment eviction for families with subsidies and the working poor in Massachusetts. 

These local leaders struggled in school. It hasn’t held them back.

Lousy grades or a lack of college degree — or a long, winding road through higher education — haven’t kept accomplished locals from having meaningful careers.

A s executive director of the Boston Women’s Fund, Natanja Craig Oquendo often finds herself surrounded by wealthy, well-educated donors at philanthropic galas while trying to quiet the voice in her head: “Do I belong here?” it says. “Am I good enough? Are they going to figure out who I really am?”

This impostor syndrome, in part, stems from the fact that Craig Oquendo, 46, never went to college beyond the handful of classes she took at Fisher College back in 1995. But she has found remarkable success, starting as a teenage mother on public assistance and working her way up through the ranks of the Boston nonprofit world.

Like a number of local leaders who didn’t follow a traditional academic track, Craig Oquendo has at times felt stigmatized by the blank spot on her resume, especially in the bastion of higher education that is Boston. But she has become more outspoken about it to show that there are many ways to climb the ladder.

“When we’re honest about what our paths have been, it makes it a little easier for others to find their way,” she said.

Every high school graduation season brings a barrage of questions about college. But plenty of students never go, or don’t finish, or barely make it through — and come out just fine on the other side. The Globe spoke to a number of accomplished locals who were far from academic all-stars. Some experienced hardship, mental health challenges, or got mixed up with drugs; many had nontraditional learning styles. But with hard work, determination, and a bit of luck, in some cases, their lousy grades or lack of degree haven’t kept them from having meaningful careers.

“Your GPA does not define you,” said Segun Idowu, the City of Boston’s chief of economic opportunity and inclusion, who skipped so much school he had to repeat his sophomore year at Boston Latin Academy and eventually graduated with a 1.99 grade point average.

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Idowu was rejected from the only school he applied to, Morehouse College in Atlanta, and ended up at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth on academic probation, where he buckled down because there was little else to do and few friends to distract him. He kept up his study habits when he transferred to Morehouse, and graduated with honors.

“It never fails,” he said, when sharing his full story with young people. “There are literal gasps across the room.”

In recent years, the focus on academic pedigrees has softened as skyrocketing tuition costs raise questions about the value of higher education and more employers embrace skills-based hiring to address the ongoing labor shortage. In January, Governor Maura Healey issued an executive order removing degree requirements for most state jobs, joining the federal government and 20 other states that have also started doing away with them.

So far, hiring practices haven’t changed much, but the tide is turning as it becomes clear that “employability skills” such as communication and leadership are learned outside the classroom, said Taylor Maag, director of workforce development policy at the Progressive Policy Institute.

But a bias associated with a lack of formal education, or a degree from a top-tier school, remains, said Saskia Epstein, senior vice president of client and community relations at PNC Bank. This is one of many reasons Epstein, 50, encouraged her daughter, who is about to graduate from Brookline High School, to go to college instead of following in her footsteps.

As a teenager, Epstein struggled with depression and bounced around to different high schools, including in Brookline, before dropping out and getting her GED. She joined the Boston youth corps program City Year and went on to work there for several years, opening the door to other nonprofit jobs — a path she admits she was lucky to find.

“We need to crack open these long-held beliefs … that you need a particular credential, a four-year degree, to be successful,” she said.

People who take nontraditional routes into their careers often make excellent employees, particularly at startups, said Kate Morgan, who runs the recruiting and HR consultancy Boston Human Capital Partners. Knowing how to hustle tends to make people more comfortable with the challenges common at new companies, she said.

Morgan, 51, knows this first-hand. After dealing with personal trauma, she opted to test out of high school at 16 and started taking night classes at Rochester Institute of Technology — but only lasted four quarters. Knowing the stigma of not having a degree, she included a bachelor’s from RIT on her resume anyway. No one ever checked, she said, and she never bothered to remove it.

“We’re always going to feel a little behind the eight-ball,” she said of people without a formal education. “So if we’re … trying to leap over that ball, we do it in this very scrappy and resilient way.”

“Scrappy” is a word Sandy Lish identifies with. Lish got good grades until the family business went bankrupt and her parents got divorced, forcing her mother to work three jobs and rent out rooms in their house. Lish started skipping classes at Brookline High School and never graduated. She got her GED but was turned down by every college she applied to except UMass Amherst, where she was initially waitlisted and graduated with a 2.6 GPA.

After “a lot of work and perseverance,” Lish eventually found her niche in public relations, and cofounded the firm The Castle Group in 1996. For years, she kept her “miserably embarrassing academic experience” from her now 20-something children, who both graduated from college with honors.

“There’s a lot of people like me who didn’t bloom until later,” she said, “because things happen in your life that you can’t control.”

Kevin Willett, an adjunct business professor at UMass Lowell, is up front with students about how he quit UMass Lowell with a 1.6 GPA after two years and going back to school at night. Sometimes Willett, 59, can almost see himself as an insecure 18-year-old in the back row — and he wants his students to know something he didn’t: “I want them to see that it’s natural to struggle.”

And those struggles can lead to insights, and careers, that might not have been possible otherwise.

It took Jeffrey Sanchez, who served as a state representative for 16 years, stints at six community colleges and 10 years on and off at the University of Massachusetts Boston until he finally got his bachelor’s degree during his second term in office. “I didn’t think I had the intellectual capacity to finish,” said Sanchez, 54, who later earned his master’s at Harvard Kennedy School and is now a senior adviser at the public affairs firm Rasky Partners and runs a legislative consulting firm.

But he did know how to communicate, he said, and to bring what he learned in life to his work on health care reform, housing, and criminal justice.

“Every experience that I had, it just contributed to who I am and it contributed to everything I did when I was in a position of elected influence,” he said.

Dominique Lee, president of the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, has also come to realize that overcoming adversity has made her a better leader. Lee, now a 39-year-old doctoral student in public health at Johns Hopkins University, dropped out of high school at 16 after leaving a “tumultuous home environment,” and spent nine years earning her bachelor’s degree. The experience she gained along the way, she said, including working for Planned Parenthood in several states, has given her strength, discipline, and the ability to embrace challenging situations.

Lee is open about her past in the hopes it will help others who feel lost.

Sometimes, she said, “you can’t see what’s possible because you’re just trying to survive.”

Katie Johnston can be reached at [email protected] . Follow her @ktkjohnston .