By Lorna Garey
In 1986, a group of Malden community members noticed a growing crisis in their neighborhoods: Families were losing their homes and had nowhere to turn. Driven by a client-centric vision, they opened a five-unit shelter to provide a safety net for families experiencing homelessness. Now, Housing Families operates 325 family shelter units and 44 units for individuals while championing a holistic approach to homelessness that centers on mental health, legal advocacy and human dignity.
As the organization celebrates 40 years of service this month, it’s riding the momentum of a game-changing, historic philanthropic award and deep community support.
The Bezos Day 1 Families Fund Award
The transformative work Housing Families does caught the attention of one of the world’s most prominent philanthropic entities. In late 2025, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos gave the Malden-based housing nonprofit the largest single gift it has received.
The $5 million grant was awarded through the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund, which issues annual leadership awards to organizations doing “compassionate, needle-moving work to help families experiencing homelessness.” The by-invitation selection process is rigorous and competitive — Housing Families was one of only 32 organizations nationwide selected for the 2025 cycle.
The team didn’t seek out the opportunity but were thrilled when an independent advisory board of experts identified their work as making a significant impact.
“We were pretty much blown away by the opportunity,” says Felicity Beal, who recently joined the fundraising and development leadership team. “This was a special invitation. It really is a strong vote of confidence for the work that we do and that we’re very solutions-oriented.”
For an organization navigating the unprecedentedly unpredictable waters of nonprofit finance, the unrestricted nature of this grant is a game-changer, arriving at what Senior Director, Policy and Strategic Partnerships Renee Cammarata Hamilton calls an “extraordinarily vital moment.”
In Massachusetts, the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) contracts with nonprofits, like Housing Families, to operate day-to-day family shelter programs. However this public funding comes with strict operational and client facing rules, including rigid new length of stay and eligibility limits.
Given revenue reductions at all levels and state contracts that leave little room for operational flexibility, an unrestricted donation of this magnitude can be transformative because it allows the organization to deploy capital in smart, creative ways.
“To be able to have funding that helps us leverage that long-term kind of solution is really impactful and important for us,” Beal said. “It does help to bolster your confidence that you’re doing the right thing and you’re heading in the right direction.”
Wellness, dignity and trust
What sets Housing Families apart from traditional shelter models is its focus on the whole person. This holistic vision translates into a multipronged approach encompassing emergency shelter, permanent supportive housing, youth tutoring, food assistance, and legal aid. In the past year alone, the organization served roughly 3,100 households, equating to nearly 6,679 individual clients.
“Our goal is to achieve and sustain housing for everybody, with this greater vision of ensuring equity and well-being,” said Beal. “I love that part — well-being. It is the uniqueness of Housing Families. The mental health aspect that this organization has is so strong. Every day the words ‘wellness’ and ‘well-being’ come into everything that we do in all of our programming.”
A prime example of this proactive methodology is their legal advocacy team, internally known as LAWS. Rather than waiting for clients to find them after an eviction notice has been served, the legal team takes to the front lines.
“Our secret sauce is not just legal, it’s legal aid and wellness for stability,” says Beal. “I could not believe when I sat down with the program director … she said, ‘Oh yeah, we go to different courthouses, and we wait outside, and we invite them. We ask if they would like for us to represent them in court.’ What organization does that?”
This approach is rooted in awareness of the trauma associated with housing insecurity and a focus on restoring agency to people who have had it systematically stripped away.
“They start from a basis of trust,” Beal said. “They support people and meet people where they’re at, and really look to restore dignity and respect into these situations, giving clients hope that they’ve lost. It takes bravery to tell somebody that they need help.”
Power of a local ecosystem
Malden businesses, partner nonprofits and individual residents provide the hands-on support that allows Housing Families to execute its mission daily.
“We never underestimate the community angle — we can only do the work that we do because of community, and this is a very strong community,” said Beal. “Charity begins at home, doesn’t it?”
For instance, Idle Hands Craft Ales, a Malden-based brewery, hosts a Dunk Tank event during its Oktoberfest to raise money for Housing Families. They also host winter clothing drives and donate a portion of their beverage sales to the nonprofit, Josh Deering of Idle Hands told Neighborhood View in a profile of community support efforts. From Bread of Life assisting with food aid to a community-driven “Give a Gobble” Thanksgiving meal-kit drive organized by Melrose residents to the annual Housing Families 5K Fun Run at River’s Edge, the local ecosystem continually steps up.
Now, to recognize 40 years of service, Housing Families is running a community-driven “$40 for 40 years” campaign, which kicked off on Valentine’s Day. Maldonians and supporters in surrounding communities are asked to make a one-time donation of $40 to mark the milestone.
The campaign is designed to be accessible, and it’s already receiving corporate backing, with Cambridge Savings Bank pledging to match up to $5,000 in community donations throughout February.
“Being in our 40th year, it kind of just gives us that extra joy in our step to say, ‘Okay, come on next 40 years!’” said Beal.
Navigating a shifting and challenging landscape
It’s hard to know what the next four months will bring, much less 40 years. Housing Families operates within a complex and often unforgiving environment. The state of Massachusetts, for example, recently implemented sweeping policy revisions that significantly altered access to family shelter. Changes include limiting eligibility to Massachusetts residents, introducing stricter documentation requirements, and imposing new time limits on how long families can remain in shelter. Those moves dramatically reduced the shelter population — to the point where, by early this year, roughly half of the state’s 3,300 available shelter units were empty, according to State House News Service.
Advocates point out that while beds sit empty, families are being turned away. This reality is deeply felt by the staff at Housing Families, who must navigate shifting policies to advocate for their clients.
Furthermore, many families are bypassing the traditional shelter system entirely, utilizing short-term rental assistance programs like HomeBASE, which aims to keep people in their homes via cash payments for a set amount of time.
“I think there has been so much change to family shelter from pre-2022 to now,” Cammarata Hamilton said. “The system shifted dramatically during that time. The eligibility criteria changed, and the length of stay changed. It has also become harder to measure true demand. Some families who would have previously entered shelter are now being directed to use HomeBASE instead, which can make demand appear lower in the short term.”
As a result, it is difficult to fully understand need, because some families are in EA (emergency assistance) shelter while others were diverted and are being served through HomeBASE.
“It’s a system that works for some folks and doesn’t work for others, because as that assistance starts to taper down, they need to take over the rent on their own,” said Cammarata Hamilton. “Folks are struggling to be able to do that.”
At the federal level, the outlook is equally daunting. Looming changes to HUD-funded permanent supportive housing threaten to devastate a system that has historically enjoyed bipartisan support.
“Changing that from permanent supportive housing to having more of a focus on transitional housing, changing eligibility of what disability means — there’s a lot of changes coming down the pike,” said Cammarata Hamilton.
For Housing Families, as always, it’s about keeping the people closest to the problem at the center of the solution. They actively survey clients and are working to bring those voices into advisory boards and regular “coffee hours” with CEO Laura Rosi to keep the organization’s advocacy grounded in lived reality.
“We’re making sure we elevate those voices so folks have a strong understanding of what’s happening on the ground,” she said.
One way to catch a lot of ears? Serve up some eggs and bacon with a side of advocacy.
Giving clients a seat at the table: The legislative breakfast
“When we think about the dignity part of it, it means bringing the client’s experiences into the rooms where decisions are made about how limited resources are prioritized,” said Cammarata Hamilton. “We work directly with our clients to bring their stories and their perspectives to the State House, recognizing that their lived experience is critically important to making effective policy decisions.”
This effort will be on full display at Housing Families’ annual Legislative Breakfast, scheduled for April 1 at Anthony’s of Malden. The event serves as a bridge between marginalized families and the policymakers who dictate their options. Local mayors, state legislators and community partners gather not for a fundraising pitch, but to listen.
“We center the voices of people who are experiencing those situations,” says Cammarata Hamilton. “It’s really an opportunity to be around folks who are working towards housing stability and finding those innovative solutions. None of us can go it alone. We need to be able to work together with other organizations, with municipal leaders, with schools, with our legislative delegation — this is a really tough nut to crack.”
Beal echoes the sentiment, noting the profound impact of having former and current clients speak directly to power. At the upcoming breakfast, a family who recently achieved housing stability after years in the system — whose children all came through Housing Families’ after-school programs — will take the podium as featured speakers.
“We amplify people’s voices,” she said.
Thanks to generous sponsors, free tickets are available for the 2026 Legislative Breakfast, which honors Rep. Paul Donato and retiring Sen. Jason Lewis.
Looking ahead: 40th anniversary and beyond
As the Housing Families team steps into its next era fortified by a historic $5 million grant, backed by a deeply engaged village, and armed with 40 years of institutional wisdom, their fundamental mission remains unchanged: Continue to fight for a world where housing equity is a reality, operating from a foundational belief that every individual deserves respect and that the overwhelming structural challenges of affordability can only be tackled as a community. And as long as the system remains imperfect, Housing Families will be there — waiting outside courthouses, delivering fresh produce, and amplifying voices at the State House.
When Neighborhood View connected with Beal, she had just experienced the sort of team-effort win that keeps advocates going.
“Last week, it was a particularly cold and horrible, frigid day, and we got news that we were able to secure permanent housing for a family that had been unhoused for seven years,” she said. “Moving costs were covered, donated furniture. We’re very lucky to be sustained by a community of supporters. So I would love to be able to use this as a platform to say thank you.”
Maldonians interested in keeping this vital safety net strong for the next 40 years have avenues to support Housing Families’ mission, from attending the upcoming Legislative Breakfast or participating in an innovative fundraising campaign to checking the list of physical items needed or joining in an upcoming community fundraising event.
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