March 9, 2022

Greetings!

Yesterday, the House Committee on Ways and Means released their version of the FY22 supplemental budget, House Bill 4532. Representatives had until 5 p.m. yesterday to submit amendments, and the full House of Representatives plans to debate the budget this afternoon.

While we know that time is very short, we ask you to please reach out to your State Representative this morning to ask for their strong and active support for Amendment #39: Access and Equity in Homelessness Prevention, filed by Representative Decker.


Amendment Summary

This critical amendment seeks to build on the House Ways and Means proposal to provide an additional $100 million for the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition program (RAFT, line item 7004-9316) by expanding the uses of RAFT funds to cover households and needs currently covered under the federally funded Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) and restoring RAFT and ERAP benefits to December 2021 levels. This amendment would:

  • Restore the $10,000/year cap on RAFT assistance, up from the current cap of $7,000
  • Reinstate a swift ERAP recertification process for households needing further assistance, instead of requiring families and individuals to begin a new application
  • Allow families and individuals to apply for future rent assistance from ERAP or RAFT, even if they have not already fallen behind on rent
  • Allow tenants to access RAFT after exhausting ERAP benefits
  • Allow households with incomes above 50% of area median income but below 80% AMI to be served


Take Action!

Please ask your Representative to cosponsor and actively support Amendment #39 today!

You can find out who your Rep is and how to contact them by going to www.wheredoivotema.com or calling the State House switchboard at 617-722-2000.


Sample Script

Here is a sample script:

"My name is {name}. I live at {address} in {city/town}. As a constituent, I am asking the Representative to cosponsor and actively support Amendment #39 to the supplemental budget to strengthen and expand access to emergency rental assistance and strengthen homelessness prevention efforts. This will help ensure that families and individuals in our community and across the Commonwealth can obtain housing stability. Thank you!"


Current Cosponsors

The current alphabetical list of sponsors/cosponsors, as of 10:50 a.m., includes:

  • Representative Decker
  • Representative Gouveia
  • Representative Higgins
  • Representative Lewis
  • Representative Meschino
  • Representative Owens
  • Representative Sabadosa
  • Representative Ultrino


Supplemental Budget Documents

See our full list of housing equity related requests here as the supplemental budget makes it way through the full process, as well as our summary of Governor Baker's recommendations for the supp budget, released a few weeks ago.

Thanks for your collaboration and your work to prevent and end homelessness!

In solidarity,
Kelly

Kelly Turley
Associate Director