Study of the SNO Mass Housing Mobility Program in Massachusetts
The Century Foundation has recently released its report The Walls of Exclusion in Massachusetts: How Three Mothers Had to Overcome Discriminatory Zoning Laws to Improve the Lives of Their Children” which highlights the ongoing Supporting Neighborhood Opportunity in Massachusetts (SNO Mass) housing mobility program. supports Housing Choice Voucher families with school-aged children making moves to communities with high quality schools, parks and open space, and healthy, safe environments. SNO Mass helps families take advantage of the “choice” aspect of the Housing Choice Voucher Program.
This voluntary program provides a wide-range of supports to help participating families to access and attain residential stability in higher opportunity neighborhoods; locations with high-performing schools, low poverty rates, and environments that have demonstrated positive health and well-being outcomes for children and adults. Click to view the SNO Mass brochure in English.
According to the City of Worcester's Recap Solutions, to be eligible for the SNO Mass program a household must: (1) be a RCAP Solutions Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher participant in good standing; (2) have at least one child in the household under the age of 18; and (3) currently live in a non-SNO Mass Opportunity Area. The program then provides dedicated counselors that give helpful information to consider the family’s needs and preferences, pre-move counseling connecting to available landlords and units, financial assistance to help with moving costs, security deposits, and other fees, post-move counseling to support the household in its new neighborhood; and potentially higher voucher value to pay any higher rent for apartments in high-opportunity areas.
SNO Mass high opportunity areas are neighborhoods that have educational and health benefits for the participating family, such as high-quality public schools, parks and green spaces, supermarkets with healthy food options, low poverty rates, and high employment rates. The SNO Mass team will provide custom housing search and support to help determine which opportunity areas are best for the family.
SNO Mass provides Special Supports to families who choose to move to a high opportunity area, namely, help with housing search, apartment listings in opportunity areas, potentially higher voucher value, transportation to view apartments, information on schools and assistance with transfers, and financial assistance with moving costs, security deposit and other fees before and after the move, and assistance in locating resources and services in the new community.
Property Owners who rent a unit in RCAP Solutions’ designated SNO Mass Opportunity Areas to a SNO Mass Participant are eligible for several supports and incentives. Click here to see if the unit is located in a designated SNO Mass Opportunity Area.
Mobility Works helped to begin the mobility program in 2019.
SnoMass, now extended statewide, is funded and overseen by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development.
Click here to see Mobility Works and the Poverty & Race Research Action Council's listing of all current mobility programs in the US.
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