Latest news with #MassachusettsCoalitionfortheHomeless
Boston Globe
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
As emergency shelter population dips, Mass. Governor Healey directs all hotel shelters to close ‘ahead of schedule'
Starting in 2022, mounting numbers of migrant families arriving in Massachusetts forced the state Since Healey took office in January 2023, officials drastically expanded its emergency shelter system to house thousands of homeless and migrant families Advertisement In August 2023, Healey declared the shelter system to be in a According to recent tallies, the total number of families in shelter The shelter population decline is partially a response to the slew of requirements Healey's administration implemented on the system, including rules that require homeless families prove lawful immigration status, show they have lived in the state for at least six months, and undergo Advertisement The changes have dramatically reshaped the state's unique and Senate budget chief Michael Rodrigues, who led the charge to fund the shelter system while imposing Healey-recommended restrictions, applauded the administration Monday. 'Kudos to the administration,' the Westport Democrat said. 'We were expecting to stop using hotels for shelter sometime by the end of the calendar year, not by the end of summer. That's good' But there is still a need for shelter, data shows. According to numbers released by the state housing office Monday, 570 families applied for shelter in the last two weeks; 97 of those families were placed in the system. The average time a family spends in shelter remains long, at more than a year. Advocates say that while the numbers in shelters have decreased, the needs of homeless families still 'remain high' amid the high costs of stable housing. 'We certainly haven't tackled the causes of homelessness,' said Kelly Turley, associate director of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless. 'As the state takes down infrastructure, we want to make sure that we're in a position to add units as they're needed, and hopefully as we undo some of the draconian restrictions . . . that are keeping many children and parents in places not meant for human habitation.' Advertisement Samantha J. Gross can be reached at
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Bridge aid pitched to keep older residents sheltered
BOSTON (SHNS) – To address homelessness among senior citizens, housing and senior advocates are pushing to expand a Somerville pilot program that provides temporary rental assistance to help older adults stay housed while they wait for long-term affordable options. Massachusetts launched the pilot program last year in Somerville, where housing costs are skyrocketing, to provide rental assistance to low-income adults over 60 years old to remain in their homes while waiting for long-term subsidized housing. The pilot was funded at $113,000 through the state budget. Advocates are now returning to the Legislature saying it was a success, and that the pilot should be used as a model for other programs around the state. Julia Garvey of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless told the Joint Committee Aging and Independence on Monday that 41% of extremely low-income renter households in the state are older adults, testifying in favor of a Sen. Pat Jehlen and Rep. Shirley Arriaga bill (S 475 / H 4015) that would expand the senior bridge housing program. The bill does not have funding attached to it, but Jehlen filed an amendment to the Senate Ways and Means budget (#153) that would fund the expanded statewide program at $7.5 million. 'Older adults have turned to long-term subsidized housing for relief through programs such as state-funded public housing, the Massachusetts rental voucher program and the housing choice voucher program. But waitlists can be years or even a decade long. We do not have the time to wait and must implement a solution that will help older adults who often have complex health needs and are moments away from living in a shelter, in a car, or on the streets, to remain stably housed,' Garvey said. In Somerville, the bridge funding became available earlier this year. 'Our office in the last two months has gotten requests from 55 older adults, almost all of whom were facing imminent displacement and long waiting lists for public housing,' said Ellen Schachter, director of Somerville's Office of Housing Stability. Schachter said some of the seniors have lost spouses, and therefore lost half their household income, or have health issues that make it difficult to work. Some individuals have come to their office with stories of landlords who had allowed them to live in the same unit for decades at below-market rent, but when the elderly landlord dies, their rent suddenly skyrockets. In 2024, Somerville had 247 seniors waiting to get into elderly disabled housing. Four of them got a spot that year, she said. Of the $113,000 allocated in the budget last year, $100,000 went to the Community Action Agency of Somerville to administer the program. With those funds, the agency provided rental assistance for nine households 'that likely otherwise would have been evicted to the street' while they wait for an offer of affordable housing, said Director of Housing Advocacy Ashley Tienken. Of those nine, two recently moved into permanent affordable housing, she said. 'One story that illustrates the importance of this program is about a gentleman that we recently worked with. He was about to be evicted after losing his wife to illness. When she became sick, he had no choice but to enter early retirement to become her caregiver, and by time she died, he had debt, no savings and only his Social Security income, which was not enough to cover his monthly expenses. With this program, he will be able to properly grieve his wife in the home that they shared until he is able to move into permanent affordable housing,' Tienken said. Under the expanded program that Jehlen and Arriaga propose, adults over 60 years old facing housing instability would not pay more than 30% of their income towards rent, mortgage and other housing costs, with the bridge subsidy making up the difference. Individuals would be eligible if they had incomes below 80% of the area median income and are at risk of eviction due to not being able to consistently pay rent, according to the bill text. The bill also creates a steering committee led by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities to guide the expansion of the bridge subsidy program, with annual reports due every year. Lawmakers on the committee had many questions about the bill, including about its cost and how many people it could serve. 'The cost of keeping people in their homes is so much less than hospitalizations when someone has no place to discharge to, or paying for shelters. So this is cost effective, it's humane, and it's really the only thing that we can think of,' Schacter said. 'My job is to be creative, to think about programs to meet urgent needs, and I think that this program is a creative response to dealing with the crisis we see in elder homelessness in the commonwealth.' 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
25-02-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Mass. lawmakers reach deal on $425 million shelter bill, could soon send it to Governor Healey
It also seeks to cut the number of families allowed in the system from 7,500 to 4,000 beginning Dec. 31, and keeping the new limit in place through 2026. Advertisement As of last week, 5,704 families were staying in emergency shelters across the state, according to Of those, the state was housing roughly 2,150 in hotels and motels, a practice Healey has Healey administration officials project the shelter system will cost the state more than $1 billion this fiscal year, and warned legislators that it would run out of money at the end of January. The $425 million infusion is intended to keep the system funded through the end of June. While advocates said they are grateful that lawmakers committed the funding needed to continue the program, they are also concerned that the limitations on the program will put an extra strain on some of the state's neediest families. Advertisement There was also little room for public input, said Kelly Turley, associate director for the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, though she hopes that changes as lawmakers debate other changes that could impact the shelter system, including the budget plan for the fiscal year that begins in July. 'We hope to make sure that the voices of families directly participating in the program, providers, advocates, and community groups that are on the front lines also are able to weigh in,' Turley said. 'There is a lot of uncertainty overall with the program.' The soaring cost of running the shelter system reflects the parallel migrant and housing crises gripping Massachusetts, which have greatly exacerbated the need for emergency housing in the state. The bill also seeks to beef up how the state vets those entering shelters, including requiring every adult applicant to disclose any criminal convictions or pending charges for 'serious crimes.' It would also mandate that the state obtain criminal records for each applicant before placing them into emergency housing. Those suggested changes come as officials Under the proposal, applicants who do not disclose criminal convictions or charges 'shall not be eligible for benefits and any existing benefits shall be terminated.' It also calls for the Healey administration to create rules limiting or excluding from the system those convicted of or facing charges for serious crimes. Healey recently began requiring additional background checks of adults in emergency shelters using the Criminal Offender Record Information, or CORI, system, and implemented a new policy last month for the family of someone convicted of a felony to be moved into more permanent housing. The background check change, however, Advertisement Healey last month said she was also tapping former Boston police commissioner Edward Davis to lead a review of the security protocols for the emergency assistance program. A Healey spokesperson said Tuesday that Davis submitted a report, and that officials were reviewing it. Her office did not release a copy. The legislation the House passed Tuesday would make a series of other changes. It would require families to prove they are eligible for shelter and have Applicants would also need to show 'an intent to remain' in the state, including by providing documents showing they're receiving benefits under MassHealth, the state's Medicaid program, or other 'public benefits.' Republican lawmakers had sought to tighten the rules further, including setting a six- or 12-month residency requirement for those in the shelter system. But Democratic leaders warned that setting a specific duration on residency would be unconstitutional. The bill would funnel the $425 million infusion from the state's escrow account, which was built with with money previous budget surpluses. State Senator Michael Rodrigues, the chamber's budget chief, said earlier this month that $174 million will be left in the account after the money to prop up the shelter system is dispersed. Advertisement Matt Stout can be reached at
