Latest news with #GreaterBostonLegalServices
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Advocates look to expand tax credits for low-income immigrant families
BOSTON (WWLP) – It has been 50 years since the earned income tax credit was first passed, and advocates are celebrating by looking for ways to make the tax break more inclusive. When you file your taxes, you use your social security number. If you don't have a social security number, like many legal and illegal immigrants, you file using your individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN). Clarion Hotel in West Springfield closing its emergency shelter As of now, many tax breaks are not available to people using ITINs, or any member of their households. This includes the earned income tax credit that benefits low-income individuals, and especially those with children. Advocates are working to expand the tax credit to include the primarily black and brown communities that file with ITINs. 'People are living here for many years, the conflation of this population with migrants or people who are here today, gone tomorrow, is completely erroneous,' said Angela Divaris, an attorney with Greater Boston Legal Services. Complicating access to these credits, many eligible families do not make enough money to have a tax obligation, and aren't receiving the money back that they qualify for. 'So they could be missing out on thousands of dollars that are on the table that they just don't know that they are eligible for,' said Children's HealthWatch policy analyst Charlotte Bruce. The group of advocates have a plan to raise awareness about the credits, ensuring all eligible families can participate. Massachusetts looks to be the 11th state to expand their tax codes to include more immigrant community members. WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Boston Globe
17-02-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Families in emergency shelters need long-term solutions
I went on to overcome homelessness, but I can't not forget the harm imposed by his choices, which each day left me in fear of whether I would have a roof over my head. For the thousands of homeless families that remained in flux, I hoped that a new governor would work to strengthen the state's shelter program. But with Governor Maura Healey, the emergency shelter program continues to be at risk. 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 Advertisement 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 Advertisement 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. Advertisement 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.
