The Paul McGrath
Homelessness Prevention Fund:
Resident Rental Assistance

Background

In 2014 Caritas Communities launched a Homelessness Prevention Fund to help current Caritas residents pay their rent during short-term financial setbacks. Caritas residents’ budgets are stretched so thin that when they get behind on rent, it can be impossible to catch up. When this happens, their housing can be in jeopardy. The Homelessness Prevention Fund provides grants to residents who are struggling with a short-term financial setback due to illness, reduction in work hours, or other unexpected circumstances. Since inception, more than 200 grants have been made to residents averaging $800 each. Ninety percent of recipients have been able to re-stabilize their financial circumstances and retain their hard-won housing.

Honoring Paul McGrath and his legacy of helping others

Paul McGrath was an original incorporator of Caritas Communities. He worked closely with founder P. Leo Corcoran, and was instrumental in arranging the financing for the first houses, and served on the Board of Directors for more than a decade. This past summer, Paul passed away at the age of 87. He is remembered not only for his tremendous efforts in creating affordable housing in Greater Boston, but also for many quiet acts of kindness to anyone who found themselves in a tough spot—friend and stranger alike.

Friends and colleagues of Paul have spearheaded a major fundraising effort to endow the Homelessness Prevention Fund at Caritas in Paul McGrath’s name. An endowment of $1,000,000 will assure that Caritas has sufficient funds to run the Homelessness Prevention Fund without additional annual fund-raising.

Please consider helping secure rental assistance for residents into the future with a donation to the Paul McGrath Homelessness Prevention Fund: Resident Rental Assistance. Your support will mean the world to our residents.

We are especially grateful to the John and Mary Corcoran Family Foundation for generous matching gifts during the launch of this fund.