Can't Make It to the State House on Monday? Please Call Your State Representatives and Senators

Please join us in calling your State Representative and Senator on Monday to ask them to do all they can to ensure that the supplemental budget is finalized quickly and that it includes language to ensure that the state provides overflow shelter spaces to all children and families deemed eligible for Emergency Assistance but who are put on a waiting list.

• Sample script: “Hello, my name is [your name] and I live in [your city/town]. Please do all you can to make sure that the supplemental budget is passed as swiftly as possible and that it includes language to ensure that the state provides overflow shelter spaces to all children and families deemed eligible for Emergency Assistance but who are put on a waiting list. I am very worried about the children and families who are being put on the waiting list who have no safe place to sleep. Thank you!”

• How to contact your legislators: Unsure who your State Representative and State Senator are? Find them by entering your address or the address where you are staying here: www.wheredoivotema.com or by calling the State House switchboard at 617-722-2000.

• Next steps: After reaching out, let us know you took action and share any feedback by emailing Kelly.



• Learn more here: www.tinyurl.com/right-to-shelter

Background

Why are supplemental funding and language urgently needed?

Starting on November 10th, the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (HLC) implemented a waiting list for the Emergency Assistance (EA) family shelter program, due to limited funding, shelter sites, and staff capacity. For the first time in the 40-year history of the state's right to shelter for eligible children and families, the Healey Administration has capped the number of shelter spaces that will be available to families. With that, many families who are approved for shelter are being put on a waiting list until there are openings in EA program and related temporary shelter sites.

Read more about the waiting list process here:

• Information from HLC to families seeking shelter on the new waiting list process: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/learn-how-the-waitlist-for-ea-emergency-family-shelter-works
• Additional information from HLC to families seeking shelter on how to apply for EA: https://www.mass.gov/how-to/apply-for-ea-emergency-family-shelter
• General guidance from HLC on the waiting list and prioritization procedures: https://www.mass.gov/doc/ea-guidance-on-waitlist-and-prioritization-procedures/download

How could the supplemental budget help?

We are grateful that both the House and Senate versions of the pending supplemental budget would provide needed funds to continue to support 7,500 shelter spaces for families (with the funding estimated to last at least until the spring); additional funds to schools that are serving children experiencing homelessness; and additional resources to support both newly arrived immigrant families and longer-term Massachusetts residents who are experiencing homelessness.*

The House version of the supplemental budget also would require the Administration to establish one or more overflow shelter sites for families placed on the waiting list. Such overflow sites would ensure that children and families are not left out in the cold while they are waiting for their names to come to the top of the waiting list. The House budget also includes language that would prohibit the Administration from capping shelter access at 7,500 families if the overflow sites are not operational within 30 days of the supplemental budget being enacted. The Senate version of the budget would provide more flexibility to the Administration and not require overflow sites to be established. The final Senate version also would establish a working group to look at the future of the state's family shelter program.

For four decades, Massachusetts has honored the right to shelter, a cornerstone in the Commonwealth's commitment to dignity, safety, and human rights. The state-funded overflow spaces described in the House budget will be critical to keeping children and families safe while the state scales up homelessness prevention, housing resources, and support services for all families experiencing homelessness.

(See the Coalition's letter to the editor in the Boston Globe and the recent recommendations from the Moving Beyond the Emergency Working Group and allied organizations, convened by the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, and Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association.)