November 9, 2021

Greetings!

Thank you to everyone who mobilized to reach out to State Representatives to influence their deliberations on House Bill 4219, An Act relative to immediate COVID-19 recovery needs, a bill focused on how to allocate funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and surplus funds from last fiscal year. The final bill that emerged after the House debate is House Bill 4234, and can be read here and is summarized in our ARPA chart (see current Column F).

Last Wednesday, the Massachusetts Senate Committee on Ways and Means (SWM) released Senate Bill 2564, their version of the ARPA spending bill. Since late last week, Senators have been busy filing 722 amendments to that proposal, and tomorrow the full Senate will begin debating those amendments.

We are grateful to key Senators who mobilized quickly to file amendments proposed by the Coalition and allied advocacy and community organizations. Now, we need your help today (and early tomorrow before the debate begins) to ensure that those amendments are included in the final Senate ARPA budget so that this budget maximizes investments in housing, resources, and services for people experiencing homelessness, housing instability, and poverty as the state continues to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

Please reach out to your State Senator today to encourage them to cosponsor and actively support the priority amendments listed in Column D of our ARPA budget chart: https://tinyurl.com/mch-arpa. The list includes amendments on:

  • Providing additional housing supports to families that have exited homelessness through the HomeBASE program
  • See Amendment #61 from Senator Jamie Eldridge to create a $10 million reserve fund to allow otherwise eligible households timing out of HomeBASE to receive an additional year of HomeBASE benefits to avoid a return to homelessness. The amendment seeks to add the language and funding to a new section of the ARPA budget.
  • Investing in technological improvements for the Emergency Assistance family shelter program
  • See Amendment #167 from Senator Adam Gomez to provide $400,000 to create a streamlined online application process and improved telephonic application process for the Emergency Assistance (EA) family shelter program.
  • Increasing funding for the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT) homelessness prevention program
  • See Amendment #265 from Senator John Keenan to create a $20 million reserve fund to ensure that the RAFT program can continue to assist eligible households with resources to prevent or end their housing instability and homelessness.
  • Increasing access to legal counsel in eviction cases
  • See Amendment #257 from Senator Sal DiDomenico to add $18.2 million to promote housing stability and homelessness prevention to households at risk of eviction, including $12.4 million to provide legal counsel to low-income households (tenants and owner occupants) in eviction proceedings, and an additional $5.8 million to fund three other legal assistance programs.
  • Targeting housing resources to the lowest income households
  • See Amendment #112 from Senator Pat Jehlen to target designated ARPA-funded housing programs to households with incomes at or below 60% area median income (AMI), with at least one-third of all units produced using such funds targeted only to households at or below 30% AMI.
  • Expanding access to permanent supportive housing opportunities
  • See Amendment #65 from Senator Michael Moore to add another $150 million to the $150 million proposed by SWM to expand access to permanent supportive housing.
  • Establishing a grant program for community-based organizations to expand housing stability outreach
  • See Amendment #124 from Senator Adam Gomez to provide $5 million for a new reserve fund to "support local tenant outreach and assistance for, but limited to, non-profit organizations and community-based organizations working with residents in disproportionately impacted communities to provide information about available emergency resources and to assist households with applying for emergency rental assistance and other housing stability services, to be administered through the Department of Housing and Community Development"

Senators' contact information can be found at https://malegislature.gov/Legislators/Members/Senate and www.wheredoivotema.com. The State House switchboard number is 617-722-2000. Please share any feedback or questions with kelly@mahomeless.org.

We'll be back in touch with Senate budget outcomes and next steps as the House and Senate finalize this round of ARPA investments. In the meantime, check our ARPA budget chart for updates.

Thank you for your collaboration and advocacy!

With hope,
Kelly

Kelly Turley
Associate Director
Pronouns: She, her, and hers