But soon, through a focused city effort to reduce homelessness among Boston families, the Frenches will again have a place of their own. They are among 500 Boston families living in emergency shelters who will receive housing subsidies to rent an apartment, beginning in the new year.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino will announce the $6 million in new subsidies today. French, a single mother whose children are 16 and 12, said next week she will sign the lease on a three-bedroom apartment.
“We’re all very excited,’’ she said. “It’s a nice place, just up the street from my mother’s house. It will be good to be back in the old neighborhood.’’
The housing subsidies, which have come under increasing demand since the recession, are part of an effort to place families living in motels or shelters in permanent homes, a model housing specialists say saves the government money in the long run and helps families become more independent.
“It makes a huge difference for the families,’’ said Christopher Norris, who directs the Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership, working with the city’s housing authority to place 200 homeless families in Boston in public housing developments.
In Boston, the new vouchers will allow the city to reach its goal, set about five years ago, of reducing homelessness among families by half, officials said.
Vouchers will be distributed to families who have lived in shelters the longest, and most families who will qualify have lived in shelters for more than a year. State housing officials began reaching out to families in October.
“There’s such an adverse impact on families who are homeless for a long time,’’ said Jim Greene, director of the city’s Emergency Shelter Commission. “We’re trying to move as many families into permanent housing as quickly as we can.’’
