The National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates that a minimum-wage worker would need to work 140 hours per week, 52 weeks per year, to be able to reasonably afford a two-bedroom apartment in the Greater Boston area, for example. After years of waiting and navigating a seemingly endless maze of bureaucracy, some low-income households may be lucky enough to receive an affordable rent subsidy (also known as subsidized housing), which allows tenants to pay no more than 30 percent of their monthly income to rent. However, even for low-income tenants residing in subsidized housing, keeping up with monthly rent payments can be a struggle. 

Eviction-prevention programs can help keep such individuals and families in their homes, out of shelters, and off the streets. These programs work one-on-one with at-risk tenant households, providing case management to address the tenant's barriers to ongoing rent payment, linkages to public benefits and other income-maximization resources, landlord-tenant mediation, advocacy in housing court, and emergency grants of financial assistance toward the tenant's back rent. These services help create an agreement between landlord and tenant to stop the eviction and preserve the tenancy.