May 28, 2020

Greetings!

Thank you once again for your sustained actions to improve access to housing, shelter, homelessness prevention resources, and benefits, before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are writing to ask for your swift action TODAY to help secure access to non-congregate shelter in motels and other locations for people experiencing homelessness who lack access to safe places to practice social and physical distancing by asking your State Representative and Senator to sign on to a letter led by Senator Jo Comerford, Senator Brendan Crighton, Representative Marjorie Decker, Representative Kay Khan, and Representative Kevin Honan, addressed to Governor Charlie Baker and Marylou Sudders, Secretary of Health and Human Services. The text of the letter is here and pasted below.

Currently, Massachusetts has authorization from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide non-congregate shelter to five categories of people, including certain people who are COVID-positive, have a known exposure, or are high-risk, such as those who are over age 65 or have an underlying health condition, who require quarantine as a social distancing measure. The current authorization is set to expire this Sunday, May 31st. (See the bottom of this email for a copy of the current authorization letter from FEMA.)

We have been concerned that many people experiencing homelessness who are living in congregate shelters and double-up situations could benefit from being placed in non-congregate settings, but have not been able to access such placements through the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) or the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). While we have learned that the state plans to seek reauthorization from FEMA to provide non-congregate shelter in June, we have not received any commitment that the state will seek to broaden the authorization to cover additional families with children, youth, young adults aging out of state custody (i.e. Department of Children and Families care), and unaccompanied adults experiencing homelessness.

We hear each week from people with lived experience of homelessness who are forced to make difficult decisions about whether or not it is safer to sleep in a car or on the streets than in an overcrowded congregate shelter during this pandemic, and whether or not they should continue to scrape together the funds to privately pay to stay in a motel to protect the health of their household members. Other states already have received this broader authorization from FEMA after requesting it. With authorization comes at least 75% reimbursement from FEMA for the costs of non-congregate sheltering, with additional federal funds (such as more FEMA funds or Emergency Solutions Grant funds) potentially available to cover the difference.

With limited access to COVID-19 testing, we know that many more families and individuals living in congregate settings have been exposed to the virus than just those who have received a positive diagnosis. Taking action is a moral issue and a matter of public health. Please do all you can to ensure that everyone has a safe place to call home during this pandemic.

Please email or call your State Representative and Senator today to ask them to sign on to the letter shared with them by Senator Jo Comerford (Senators) or Representative Marjorie Decker (Representatives).

Legislators can add their name to the letter to the Governor and Secretary Sudders by 5 p.m. today by contacting:


You can find out who your legislators are and their contact information by going to https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator . If you take action, please let us know by responding to this message or emailing us .

Thank you again for your commitment and collaboration!

With gratitude,
Kelly

Kelly Turley
Associate Director
Text of Letter to Governor Baker and Secretary Sudders

Governor Baker and Madam Secretary,

Thank you for your service to the people of the Commonwealth during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We, the undersigned Members of the Massachusetts Legislature, respectfully request that you seek immediate and expanded authorization from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide non-congregate shelter spaces to people experiencing homelessness regardless of their COVID-19 status. This will allow unsheltered people as well as those who are unsafely housed, either in congregate settings or doubled up, to remain “safer at home” during the ongoing pandemic. 

We have understood from homelessness service providers that as a phased reopening begins without a vaccine and without universally available and reliable testing, the risks associated with people experiencing homelessness remain high – not only to them and their families, but also to friends, coworkers, and the public health.  

We thank you for your work to seek initial authorization from FEMA to provide non-congregate shelter to people who have tested positive for COVID-19 and for those who have known COVID exposures, and for your recent reauthorization request to expand the authorization to include additional vulnerable populations. As the next renewal date rapidly approaches, we respectfully request that you work with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) to:

  • Outline the public health need for Massachusetts to assert broader authority to provide non-congregate shelter to all families, youth, young adults aging out of state custody, and unaccompanied adults experiencing homelessness, regardless of their COVID-19 status. As you know, FEMA requires that a statement of public health need accompany any expanded authorization request.
  • Request expanded authorization from FEMA to allow for de-population of congregate shelters for families, individuals, and youths into non-congregate shelters as described above in order to meet the public health need

With thousands of families, youth, and unaccompanied adults experiencing homelessness still sleeping in overcrowded congregate settings, co-shelter arrangements, and doubled up with high-risk family members, with limited or no access to COVID-19 testing, we must assume the virus can and will spread rapidly. While we are heartened to hear that the most recent data from the Department of Housing and Community Development indicates that there only have been 65 confirmed COVID-19 cases among families living in the Emergency Assistance family shelter program, we are concerned that without universal testing there has likely been more community transmission of COVID-19 than this data shows. In fact, in many cases where wide-scale testing has been made available for individuals experiencing homelessness who are living in congregate shelters, the percentages of positive cases among shelter residents have been disturbing. This includes point-in-time positive rates of 36% of the 408 guests tested at the Pine Street Inn, 37% of the 383 guests tested at the Southampton Street Shelter, 33% of the 152 guests tested at the Woods Mullen Shelter, and 43% of the guests tested at a shelter for unaccompanied adults in Worcester. 

We ask that you seek expanded authorization and increased federal funding, and do all you can to provide safe shelter and services to more people experiencing homelessness in the Commonwealth during this pandemic. We remain committed to doing all we can in the Legislature to provide critical state-funded resources for housing, homelessness prevention, and emergency shelter.

Thank you for your partnership in meeting the needs of families, youth, and unaccompanied adults experiencing homelessness.

Sincerely,

_________________




Thank you for your collaboration and work to ensure that everyone has a safe place to stay at home during the stay at home advisory and beyond!