Families in emergency shelters need long-term solutions
Countless families today depend on the Emergency Assistance shelter program to survive. This crucial program is a lifeline for families on the brink of or experiencing homelessness, giving them help before the cycle of poverty takes hold.
Over the past year, however, the program has been pushed to capacity, the result of a growing
in Massachusetts amid a housing crisis that has also pushed residents into state-funded shelters. Yet instead of focusing on addressing family homelessness, policy makers have begun
Some
have proposed rescinding
the 'right-to-shelter' law, which guarantees homeless families access to emergency shelter.
Healey has
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Families with children, irrespective of citizenship, have been forced to
These families need real solutions that prevent or interrupt homelessness, rather than arbitrary limits on their ability to access resources. For example, HomeBASE is a
often spend more weeks in shelter than necessary because of bureaucratic
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In light of the housing affordability crisis,
policy makers need to better utilize vacant subsidized housing.
such housing because they are unable to meet stringent eligibility requirements.
Further, policy makers must invest more in eviction prevention resources, like the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition
The solution to the surge in family homelessness does not lie in
removing
one of the few safety nets available to homeless families. It necessitates
Furthermore, the root of this shelter crisis is the shortage of affordable housing in the state. Instead of destroying the family shelter system, our policy makers must protect it — and then expand their efforts beyond it — to end family homelessness once and for all.
For all its flaws, the family shelter system provided my family with a roof when we needed it the most. It gave me the space to build a better future for myself, even under the worst circumstances, that led to my becoming a housing attorney. The thousands of homeless children in the Commonwealth deserve that same chance.
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Timothy Scalona is a staff attorney in the Housing Unit at Greater Boston Legal Services and a board member at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute.
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