In addition to providing safe, high-quality affordable housing to approximately 10 percent of the Cambridge community, CHA uses its Moving to Work flexibility to create special programs that address the needs of specific populations or that attempt to solve particulalry difficult policy conundrums.

Often, these special programs involve partnerships with local non-profit service providers. Through these innovative partnerships, CHA and its partners create new ways to provide low-income households with the resources, training and education they need to acheive the economic, social and wellness goals they set out for themselves.

You can learn more about CHA's Special Programs by clicking on the links in the box on the right side of this page.

Career Family Opportunity Cambridge (CFOC)
This groundbreaking self-sufficiency program was developed by Crittenton Women's Union (CWU), a Boston based non-profit.  CFOC builds on CWU's succesful Career Family Opportunity program first launched in public housing developments in South Boston.  With CHA's support, the Cambridge program is serving a small number of single parent households in CHA's MTW voucher program and the Washington Elms and Newtowne Court family public housing developments.

CFOC is an intensive five year self-sufficiecy program that helps participants identify the income they need to earn to reach economic independence within five years, and the barriers they need to overcome to get there. 

Download CFOC Application

Family Opportunity Subsidy (FOS)
Through its participation in HUD's Moving to Work (MTW) program, CHA has developed an innovative subsidy program that integrates housing assistance with employment and other supportive services to transition families from homelessness to economic independence.  The Family Opportunity Subsidy (FOS) program provides participating homeless families with intense educational and employment training opportunities, financial incentives for attaining goals, and a ten-year housing subsidy.

Partnered with Heading Home Inc., Parenting Resource Associates, MIDAS and the Executive Office of Massachusetts Community Colleges, CHA hopes that the FOS program will serve as an example of how to effectively address the difficult issue of homelessness.

You can find a more in-depth description of the FOS program by clicking the link in the Special Programs box on the right side of this page.

Sponsor-Based Program
The Sponsor-Based Program, the first subsidy program developed by CHA through the Moving to Work (MTW) program, works to serve hard-to-house individuals in the Cambridge community through partnerships with local service providers.  This innovative program differs from traditional voucher programs in that the vouchers are provided directly to the Sponsors (service providers), who are responsible for finding housing for their clients.  The Sponsor-Based Program allows CHA to house some of the City's neediest households while supporting local service providers.

You can find a more in-depth description of CHA's Sponsor-Based program by clicking the link on the right side of the page.