Help paying rent in Lynn: the programs that actually pay, and where to call
If the rent is slipping — or a notice to quit has already arrived — Massachusetts has a real, funded answer, and its Lynn office is local: RAFT pays up to $7,000 per rolling 12-month period, applications go through one state portal, and the agency deciding Lynn files is LHAND on Curwin Terrace. This page lays out each program that actually pays, the income lines in real dollars, the free legal help that comes attached, and what the money means at today's Lynn rents. Every claim links to its source.
What this page is: every rent-help program a Lynn renter can realistically reach, each linked to its official source — program status and links checked directly on July 19, 2026. Programs open and close with funding, so the linked sources are the live truth. This is not legal or benefits advice; the free help lines listed below are the people to confirm eligibility with.
RAFT pays up to $7,000 per 12 months — and covers more than back rent
RAFT (Residential Assistance for Families in Transition) is the state's homelessness-prevention fund, and it is the single biggest pot of emergency housing money a Lynn renter can reach: up to $7,000 per household in a rolling 12-month period. It pays rent arrears first, but depending on the crisis it can also cover first and last month's rent, a security deposit, moving costs, and utility arrears. Two things must both be true to qualify: a housing crisis the program recognizes (a notice to quit, a court eviction case, a shutoff notice, or housing you can't safely stay in) and income under the limit below. The money goes to the landlord or vendor, not to you, and everything runs through the state's single online application. Source: Mass.gov — Apply for RAFT · Central application portal
The income line: half the area median, with one wider door
The standard RAFT income limit is 50% of area median income for your household size; a household at risk of domestic violence qualifies up to 60% AMI instead — both lines are spelled out in the state's current program rules. What those percentages mean in actual Lynn-area dollars is in the table just below, from the same HUD figures the program keys to. Source: FY26 RAFT Admin Plan (EOHLC) · Mass.gov — RAFT eligibility
Lynn's RAFT office is Lynn's own housing agency
The state splits RAFT processing among regional agencies, and the agency for Lynn is LHAND — the same Lynn Housing Authority & Neighborhood Development that runs the city's Section 8 vouchers. You still apply through the state portal, but the file lands with local staff: Housing Stabilization at (339) 883-2342 or fsc@lhand.org, documents for a pending application to raft@lhand.org or the drop box at 39 Curwin Terrace. If an application stalls, the people to call are in Lynn, not a state call center. Source: LHAND — RAFT
Free legal help comes attached — and it can end the eviction case
Northeast Legal Aid serves Lynn and works both sides of the same emergency: staff help tenants get RAFT applications right, and lawyers defend the eviction cases RAFT exists to stop — including filing to dismiss when a landlord accepts RAFT money and doesn't drop the case. If court papers have already arrived, run both tracks at once: the money application and the legal defense. More free-legal-help doors are on our tenant-rights page. Source: Northeast Legal Aid — RAFT help
For families closer to the edge: HomeBASE
When arrears help isn't enough, families who qualify for the state's Emergency Assistance shelter system can get HomeBASE — re-housing money aimed at keeping families out of shelter, or moving them back out of it quickly. It is narrower than RAFT — families eligible for EA shelter, not every renter — and eligibility runs through the state's Emergency Assistance intake rather than the RAFT portal. Source: Mass.gov — HomeBASE
Not sure which door? Two calls that know all of them
Mass 2-1-1 is the state's free 24/7 hotline for exactly this triage — dial 211 and a housing emergency gets routed to whatever is open and funded right now. The state's Housing Consumer Education Centers do the same for renters region by region, RAFT questions included. Programs open and close with funding; these two stay current so you don't have to. Source: Mass 211 · Housing Consumer Education Centers
The income limits in real dollars (Boston-Cambridge-Quincy area, FY2026)
"50% of area median income" — the line most emergency-rent programs key to — resolves to these actual figures for the HUD area that includes Lynn:
| Household size | 50% AMI income limit |
|---|---|
| 1 person | $60,000/yr |
| 2 persons | $68,600/yr |
| 3 persons | $77,150/yr |
| 4 persons | $85,700/yr |
One wider door: a household at risk of domestic violence qualifies for RAFT up to a 60% line instead — roughly a fifth above each figure shown (HUD publishes the 50% figures; the 60% line scales from them).
For scale: Lynn's own median household income (about $74,715 across all households) sits under the 3-person limit — a large share of Lynn is inside the income band these programs exist for. (Household income and HUD's size-adjusted family limits are different measures, so treat that as direction, not a precise eligibility test.) The full 30/50/80% table by household size is on our Section 8 & FMR page.
What "behind on rent" costs in Lynn — and what the help actually covers
The average Lynn rent is $2,300/month as of June 2026 (how we compute this). Arrears — the thing most of these programs pay — scale like this for a typical unit:
| Behind by | Rent owed at the Lynn average |
|---|---|
| 1 month | $2,300 |
| 2 months | $4,600 |
| 3 months | $6,900 |
The largest single grant above — $7,000 — is about 3.0 months of the Lynn average — that many months of complete arrears, or fewer months plus a deposit and a mover.
RAFT's cap is real money here — but it is one ceiling shared across every use (arrears, deposit, moving costs), and each month behind eats a month-sized chunk of it. Applying at the first missed month, notice in hand, protects far more of the cap than applying three months deep.
Honest caveat: these are smoothed market averages (Zillow's ZORI index — methodology), not your lease. What you owe and what a program will cover run off your actual rent and your documents — the table just shows the scale at typical Lynn rents.
The rest of the money picture
Emergency help is the short game; the rest of this site covers the long one. If court papers have arrived, how eviction actually works here shows the notice and cure clocks these programs race against. If the rent itself is the problem, the income-to-rent page shows what Lynn rents demand of a budget, and Section 8 is the long-term version of rent help — waiting lists instead of emergency grants, but it lasts. If moving is on the table: what each ZIP actually rents for (01905, 01902, 01904, 01901), when in the year Lynn rents run cheapest, and whether a nearby city beats staying. And on the way out of any tenancy, the deposit rules are money too.
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