Legislative & Advocacy Alerts
MHSA, partnering with its member agencies, works with legislators and government officials to re-orient responses to homelessness from emergency services to permanent solutions. Bookmark this page and check back often for our most recent advocacy alerts. Click here to retrieve contact information for your state and federal legislators. Let them know you are committed to ending homelessness! Click here for past legislative and advocacy alerts.
SUMMER 2010
On June 23, the Joint Committee on Ways & Means released its proposed compromise FY 2011 budget report.
The compromise creates a "FMAP Budget Relief Fund." A number of the Line Items that MHSA has traditionally monitored are affected by this compromise, with a percentage of the funding coming from the General Fund and a percentage from the FMAP Budget Relief Fund. The FMAP funding is within the Tax Extenders Act (or American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010) that is currently being debated within the US Senate (HR 4213). If the Act is passed and Massachusetts receives the funding, it is expected that these Line Items would be fully funded.
Click here to view the Line Items traditionally tracked by MHSA as well as the budget language. You will also note the percentage breakdown for the Line Items affected by the FMAP Budget Relief Fund.
To review the proposed compromise budget, click here.
If both the House and Senate approve the budget, it will then go to the Governor who will then have ten days to review and then he will be able to sign with his vetoes.
SPRING 2010
The Massachusetts House of Representatives has passed its version of the Fiscal Year 2011 Budget.
Click here to view a list of line items that MHSA has traditionally followed.
The Services for Homeless Individuals Line Item (7004-0102) appears to be level funded with some additional consolidation from Line Item 4590-0915. The Home & Healthy for Good initiative, the Special Initiative to House the Homeless Mentally Ill, Tenancy Preservation Program, Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program, Residential Placement for Homeless Elders and Division of Substance Abuse Services all appear to have been level funded.
We will continue to examine the budget and keep you informed as the Commonwealth’s budget process continues.
Click here to view the appropriations.
JANUARY 2010
Governor's Fiscal Year 2011 Budget Released
Governor Patrick affirmed his commitment to reducing the state's reliance on emergency resources and transforming the homeless adult shelter system. The Governor's Fiscal Year 2011 budget level funds programs in the Commonwealth's homeless individuals assistance line item, 7004-0102, and transfers funds for MHSA Member Agency hopeFound, operated at Shattuck Hospital, into this line item. Line item 7004-0104, which supports Home & Healthy for Good, was also level funded. We at MHSA are grateful for the Governor's decision to preserve these important resources.
Governor Patrick understands that the service and housing providers funded through these line items have led the way in innovations that end, not merely manage, homelessness. He recognizes that the resources in line items 7004-0102 and 7004-0104 provide the platform for further innovations in cost-effective low-threshold housing and rapid re-housing strategies across Massachusetts.
Together with Governor Patrick, Lieutenant Governor Murray, the Department of Housing and Community Development and the Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness, MHSA and its member agencies are prepared to continue to transform the current system of care for homeless individuals. We are moving steadily from an expensive system that emphasizes temporary shelter to a more cost-effective one that focuses on triage, community-based services and housing-based solutions for our poorest and most disabled neighbors.
Thank you to all of you who advocated for sufficient resources during these difficult fiscal times. It made a difference. I ask that you take the time now to personally thank Governor Patrick (617 - 725 - 4005) for his commitment to protecting critical resources for homeless citizens across the Commonwealth.
DECEMBER 2009
On December 1, the Boston City Council, led by City Council President Mike Ross, held a hearing to examine ways that emergency rooms and housing providers can work together to refer homeless individuals in ER's to permanent housing programs. Housing Committee Chair Rob Consalvo and Vice-Chair Bill Linehan were also in attendance.
State officials, advocates and health care providers testified. MHSA Physician Advocate Jessie Gaeta, M.D. and President & Executive Director Joe Finn presented new Home & Healthy for Good data and Medicaid claims reports. A working group will convene in the coming months to move this effort forward.
Click here to watch the video of the hearing.
LATE AUTUMN 2009
Advocacy Success: Governor Patrick Restores 9C Cut to Homeless Individual Assistance Line Item
Governor Patrick plans to restore the funding cut from the Homeless Individuals Assistance line item (7004-0102) as part of the 9C cuts in October. To avoid additional cuts to the Executive Branch, the Administration will use $82 million from a one-time tax settlement the state Department of Revenue (DOR) agreed to this week and $37 million in above benchmark revenue collections reported by DOR this week. The Governor also plans to file a supplemental budget that will address funding for homeless shelters across the Commonwealth. Click here to visit the Governor's Web site and view the press release.
AUTUMN 2009
Media Coverage of the Budget Cuts:
"Budget trims lead homeless shelters across Mass. to cut services and beds" - Boston Globe 11.07.09
"Patrick to end nearly 1,000 jobs; Cuts would hit all of government" - Boston Globe 10.30.09
Governor Patrick’s 9C Cuts Decimate Homeless Programs
Governor balances budget on backs of poorest citizens of Massachusetts by slashing homeless assistance
BOSTON, October 29, 2009 – Today, the only successful outcome of Governor Patrick’s Five Year Plan to End Homelessness - a reduction in the numbers of unaccompanied homeless adults around the Commonwealth – was called into peril by the Governor’s reckless decision to drastically cut the Homeless Individuals Assistance line item (7004-0102) by $2,700,000 (approximately 7.4 percent).
Governor Patrick reduced 265 state budget line items as part of his recently released 9C cuts. Of these 265 line items, only 19 face a deeper cut than the Homeless Individuals Assistance line item. The reduction to 7004-0102 represents 93 percent of the reduction faced by the Department of Housing and Community Development. The cut to homeless providers most likely will not take place until January 1, 2010, which means it will actually be closer to a 15 percent reduction to line item 7004-0102 for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Lyndia Downie, President and Executive Director of Pine Street Inn, expressed shock. According to Downie, “I don’t understand how this Governor, given his values, could make such a disproportionate cut to homeless men and women, the poorest in the Commonwealth. We are reeling here and fully expect this will mean more homeless people on the streets of Massachusetts."
The Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance (MHSA) considers these cuts, which balance the budget on the backs of the poorest and most vulnerable citizens of Massachusetts, both unconscionable and bad policy. Homeless programs funded through 7004-0102 have led the way in providing new and effective solutions to reduce the state's reliance on expensive emergency resources for unaccompanied homeless adults, generating documented savings across all systems of care. It is MHSA’s belief that Governor Patrick is plunging our Commonwealth deeper into fiscal crisis by cutting programs that have proven to use state resources in an efficient and cost-effective manner, saving taxpayers millions of dollars in the process.
According to Joe Finn, President & Executive Director of MHSA, “It’s as if Governor Patrick is snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The Homeless Individuals Assistance line item was already underfunded, yet even so we have been successful in reducing the numbers of homeless individuals across the Commonwealth, documented significant reductions in Medicaid costs of these individuals and forwarded new and innovative housing programs with high retention rates and dramatic cost savings. Yet all of this progress is now in danger of being decimated by these cuts. Frankly, I’m astonished by the Governor’s actions.”
Click here for a chart showing the cut to 7004-0102 and other line items and here for a fact sheet on the cut. For more information contact Patrick Walsh at (617) 367 - 6447 ext. 18 or pwalsh@mhsa.net.
Click here to read a Q & A with ICHH Executive Director Robert Pulster regarding Article 87, the proposed restructuring of emergency shelter programs from Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) to Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).
