January 29, 2025

Hello!

It's almost time for our January Housing and Benefits Committee meeting, coming up this Friday, January 31st, 10:00–11:30 a.m. on Zoom. Please RSVP and plan to join us!

Here is our agenda:

• Welcome/Introductions

• Overview of the Coalition's Bill Priorities for the 2025-2026 Legislative Session – Presented by Julia Garvey, Community Organizer/Legislative Advocate, Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless
• With the deadline for filing timely-filed bills behind us, we will discuss key legislation drafted by the Coalition and our allies, including bills on:
• Improving the Emergency Assistance family shelter and services program (filed by Rep. Decker and Senator Gomez)
• House Docket 4123 and Senate Docket 2347, An Act improving emergency housing assistance for children and families experiencing homelessness
• Easing access to Mass IDs for people experiencing homelessness (filed by Rep. O'Day and Senator R. Kennedy)
• House Docket 1085 and Senate Docket 1712, An Act to provide identification to youth and adults experiencing homelessness
• Codifying and improving the RAFT homelessness prevention program (filed by Rep. Decker and Sen. Crighton)
• House Docket 2053 and Senate Docket 1162, An Act providing upstream homelessness prevention assistance to families, youth, and adults
• Codifying and improving the HomeBASE rehousing program (filed by Rep. Barber and Senator Miranda)
• House Docket 1042 and Senate Docket 2190, An Act promoting housing stability for families by strengthening the HomeBASE program
• Establishing a Bill of Rights for people experiencing homelessness (filed by Rep. F. Moran and Senator Gomez)
• House Docket 847 and Senate Docket 944, An Act establishing a bill of rights for people/individuals experiencing homelessness
• Improving the Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled, and Children program (filed by Senator Jehlen and Rep. O'Day)
• House Docket 1141 and Senate Docket 1173, An Act relative to assisting elders and people with disabilities in the Commonwealth
• Creating a bridge subsidy program for older adults experiencing housing instability or homelessness (filed by Rep. Arriaga and Senator Jehlen)
• House Docket 359 and Senate Docket 1357, An Act promoting housing stability for older adults across the Commonwealth
• And more!

• Updates on Encampment Bans in Massachusetts & Advocacy Efforts – Presented by Laura Camara, Director of Housing Advocacy at the Justice Center of Southeast Massachusetts - South Coastal Counties Legal Services; Skyler Clark, Witch City Action; and James, Coordinator for Encampment Response, Warm Up Boston
• The United States Supreme Court ruling in favor of Grants Pass in the Johnson v. Grants Pass case has "given cities and states across the U.S. permission to punish people who are forced to sleep outside, even when they have no other safe option."
• The full case can be downloaded here.
• In response to the ruling, Fall River, Lowell, and most recently, Brockton, have passed laws that ban encampments and limit overnight sleeping options for people experiencing homelessness. Prior to the Supreme Court ruling, Boston and Salem already passed laws banning encampments.
• Brockton News:
• Brockton City Council overrides mayor's veto to pass ban on public camping, loitering
• 'Where are we supposed to go?' Brockton's homeless community disheartened by veto override
• Information on presenting organizations:
• South Coastal Counties Legal Services, Inc. (SCCLS) is a private, non-profit law firm which provides free legal help in priority civil matters to low-income residents of Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes, Nantucket and Plymouth counties and the towns of Avon and Stoughton in Norfolk County. Together with its wholly owned subsidiary, the Justice Center of Southeast Massachusetts, SCCLS operates fully staffed, community-based law offices in Fall River, New Bedford, Hyannis, and Brockton.
• Witch City Action is a coalition of Salem residents, including business owners, long-time residents, recent transplants, and unhoused people, brought together to combat growing anti-homeless sentiment in [our] city. They are committed to putting the voices of the unhoused community first, and fight for change through projects led by and for them.
• Warm Up Boston, founded in 2020, is a radical survival program serving, supporting, and empowering Boston’s unhoused community through solidarity rather than charity. [Their] mission focuses on the direct delivery of material aid and advocacy as well as on harm reduction strategies designed to prevent deaths from overdoses and transmission of infectious disease among people who use drugs and the larger community. 
• Join Warm Up Boston this Monday (2/3) @ 7:00 am in rallying against an encampment sweep that it is scheduled to occur at one of the encampments they serve (BU Bridge and Comm Avenue intersection). More information on their Instagram page.
• Advocacy: Two bills filed in the Massachusetts State Legislature
• An Act to limit criminalization of the homeless, filed by Rep. Michelle DuBois of Brockton
• An Act Ending the Criminalization of Homelessness, filed by Rep. Carol Doherty of Taunton

• Updates on the Emergency Assistance Family Shelter System and the FY25 Supplemental Budget Request – Presented by Kelly Turley, Associate Director, Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless
• On January 16th, the Coalition and other allied organizations held an in-person action at the State House and a call-in day called the "The People's State of the Commonwealth: A Spotlight on Family Homelessness." We highlighted the impacts of current limits and restrictions on access to Emergency Assistance (EA) shelter and asked the Legislature to fully fund Emergency Assistance, reject further punitive family homelessness policies, and invest more in rehousing and homelessness prevention.
• Join us in continuing to call on the Legislature to:
• Swiftly provide the $425 million in supplemental funding needed to keep family shelters open
• Reject the Governor’s proposals to further limit shelter stays to 6 months, cut extension opportunities, impose stricter residency requirements, and exclude many immigrant families who otherwise meet strict shelter eligibility requirements
• Preserve presumptive eligibility, which gives families temporary access to shelter while they gather documents to prove ongoing eligibility
• Strengthen support for families leaving shelter, including by increasing HomeBASE rehousing resources
• For a sample call script, click here.
• On January 15th, Governor Healey proposed significant changes to the Right to Shelter law in a letter to the Legislature. These proposed changes would further erode the Right to Shelter and limit access to shelter for children experiencing homelessness.
• The proposed changes:
• Reduce the length of stay limit from 9 months to 6 months and eliminate most extension possibilities
• Allow state officials to remove an unlimited number of families from EA shelter, by removing the weekly cap on terminations
• Impose a statutory residency requirement
• Eliminate presumptive eligibility and require complete documentation at the time of application
• Exclude many immigrant families who otherwise meet strict shelter eligibility requirements
• On January 6th, Governor Healey filed a Fiscal Year 2025 supplemental budget request, House Bill 51, An Act Making Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2025 to Provide for Supplementing Certain Existing Appropriations and for Certain Other Activities and Projects.
• This bill would:
• Provide $425 million in supplemental FY25 funding from the Transitional Escrow Fund to fund the Emergency Assistance (EA) system and related resources for children and families experiencing homelessness. Existing funds are expected to be depleted by the end of the month.
• Restrict access to EA to 6 months, replacing the current 9-month limit, which already is harming families.
• Eliminate opportunities for families to seek up to two 90-day extensions to their time in EA shelter and require families to receive a waiver from the Secretary of the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) to stay in shelter beyond 6 months.
• Allow EOHLC to terminate an unlimited number of families each week from the EA program by removing the current cap of 150 families/week.
• Additional resources:
• Healey-Driscoll Administration Announces Systemwide Changes to Lower Shelter Costs (11/22/24)
• EA Guidance on Contact List and Prioritization Procedures (updated 12/10/24)
• Information on EA Contact List from EOHLC
• Policy FAQs (updated 12/12/24)
• Healey Deputies Respond To House Shelter Inquiry (State House News, 1/28/25)

• Overview of Governor Healey's FY26 State Budget Recommendations – Presented by Kelly Turley, Associate Director, Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless
• Governor Healey and Lieutenant Governor Driscoll filed their $59.6 billion ($61.5 billion including $1.95 billion in surtax spending) FY26 budget proposal on January 22, 2025. See their press release here.
• Other materials:
• Statewide Summary
• Line Item Summary
• Outside Sections

• Announcements and Invitations
• Save the date for the Coalition's 2025 Legislative Action Day, hosted by State Representative Jim O'Day. Look forward to hearing from inspiring speakers, learning how to advocate with legislators, and meeting with your state legislators and legislative staff to talk about issues and policy recommendations to address homelessness in Massachusetts.
• Date: Monday, April 7, 2025
• Schedule: 10 a.m.–12 p.m.: Plenary session & 12–4 p.m.: Meetings with legislators
• Location: Massachusetts State House, The Great Hall (second floor)
• RSVP: https://tinyurl.com/mchlad25

Click here to RSVP for our January 31st meeting (or go to tinyurl.com/mch-hb-rsvp.)

Best wishes,

Julia and Kelly

Julia Garvey

Community Organizer/Legislative Advocate

Pronouns: She/her/hers

julia.garvey@mahomeless.org

Kelly Turley

Associate Director

Pronouns: She/her/hers

kelly@mahomeless.org