• Expanding access to Mass IDs for people experiencing homelessness
• See Amendment #1031 from Representative Jim O'Day and Representative Kay Khan to include $200,000 in the budget to provide free Mass IDs to people experiencing homelessness, provide staffing resources to the Registry of Motor Vehicles to assist individuals experiencing homelessness to access Mass IDs, and track and report on the impact of the initiative. The amendment seeks to add the language and funding to line item 1599-2023, the permanent supportive housing reserve fund proposed by HWM.
• Providing additional housing supports to families that have exited homelessness through the HomeBASE program
• See Amendment #851 from Representative Christine Barber 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.
• Increasing access to legal counsel in eviction cases
• See Amendment #594 from Representative Ruth Balser and Representative Michael Day to allocate $95,420,000 to provide housing stability and homelessness prevention supports to households at risk of eviction, including $78 million for a Housing and Eviction Representation Program. As described by the Massachusetts Right to Counsel Coalition, the amendment "... would provide legal representation to tenants and qualified owner-occupant landlords to improve equity in legal representation."
• Increasing cash assistance grants to elders, people with disabilities, and families with children
• See Amendment #756 and Amendment #782 from Representative Marjorie Decker.
• Amendment #756 would build upon the progress of the past two state budget cycles in increasing cash assistance grants by providing a 10% grant increase from January-June 2022 to participants in the Emergency Aid to Elderly, Disabled, and Children (EAEDC) and Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children (TAFDC) programs. As noted by the Lift Our Kids Coalition, "This would be on top of the 9.1% increase in July 2021 and would get us one step closer to lifting families, elders and persons with disabilities out of Deep Poverty." The amendment seeks to add $17.3 million to pay for the grant increases.
• Amendment #782 would provide a one-time additional grant payment to cash assistance program participants, "up to the monthly grant amount not including the rent allowance", and seeks to add $28.7 million to pay for such benefits.
• Targeting housing resources to the lowest income households
• See Amendment #1085 from Representative Pete Capano 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. The amendment seeks to add the language to item items 1599-2021 and 1599-2022 proposed by HWM.