Boston awarded $1.8M in federal funding for housing vouchers

BOSTON (AP) - Boston has been awarded $1.8 million in federal funding to provide homes for residents with disabilities and homeless people.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced the funding for the Boston Housing Authority from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Saturday. It will pay for 139 housing vouchers for residents with disabilities, homeless families and the chronically homeless.

The Democrat said the vouchers will provide a housing lifeline for some of the city’s most vulnerable people, while offering services that can help to foster a better quality of life.

Walsh’s initiative to end veteran and chronic homelessness in the city is called “ Boston’s Way Home.” About 1,200 veterans and 900 chronically homeless people have been housed, Walsh said Saturday.

In April, Walsh and the Boston Housing Authority announced that 1,000 new rental housing vouchers would be issued. The vouchers were also paid for by HUD, increasing the housing authority’s total number of vouchers to 13,500.