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.
APRIL 2008
House Ways & Means Committee Releases FY 09 Budget
Proposal aims to end homelessness in Massachusetts
On April 16, the House Ways & Means Committee released its FY 09 budget proposal. In good news for homeless people, the proposal contains $10 million for the recommendations of the Commission to End Homelessness.
Earlier this year, Governor Patrick released his FY 09 budget recommendations, introducing line item 1599-1004. This new line item was instituted and funded at $8.25 million to execute the wide-scale recommendations of the Commission to End Homelessness. The funding plan also included $1.75 million through MassHousing for a total of $10 million dedicated to the goal of ending homelessness in Massachusetts. "The revolution in the way homelessness is addressed in Massachusetts continues," said MHSA Executive Director Joe Finn. "With these funds, the House has demonstrated that they are committed to ending, not managing, homelessness."
FEBRUARY 2008
State Commission Releases Plan to End Homelessness
Report emphasizes prevention, housing, and asset development
On January 28, 2008 the Massachusetts Commission to End Homelessness publicly released its five-year plan for ending homelessness in the Commonwealth at Project Place in Boston. The report offers wide-scale recommendations for both homeless individuals and families and emphasizes a need to “target the right resources to the right people at the right time.”
The commission, co-chaired by Undersecretary for the Department of Housing and Community Development Tina Brooks and Representative Byron Rushing (pictured above), was an assembly of state and local officials from the executive, legislative and judicial branches as well as service providers and advocates. MHSA Executive Director Joe Finn, who spoke at the event, was appointed by Governor Deval Patrick to serve on the commission and was given the added responsibility of chairing the commission’s Individuals Working Group.
Commission co-chairs Brooks and Rushing commented on the report and took questions from audience members. Additional speakers included Sue Beaton, executive director of One Family, Inc., Philip Mangano, founder of MHSA and executive director of United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, Julia Kehoe, Commissioner of the Department of Transitional Assistance, and more.
Pictured above left: Joe Finn, Philip Mangano, State Representative Kay Khan, Tina Brooks, and Vin Perrone of Massachusetts Veterans, Inc.
Pictured above right: Joe Finn and Tina Brooks
The report highlights:
• A three-pronged focus on prevention, housing placement and asset development as key strategies for ending homelessness.
• A tiered approach to ending homelessness that describes differing levels of need and appropriate interventions among four specific subpopulations: transitionally homeless individuals; people discharged from state institutions into homelessness; long-term homeless shelter stayers with moderate service needs; and long-term homeless street dwellers with intensive service needs.
• A strong emphasis on prioritizing the needs of long-term homeless persons through an expansion of permanent supportive housing.
• A shift in the use of shelters away from their role as de facto, and often long-term, housing and back to their original purpose as temporary, emergency facilities to be used in times of crisis.
• The creation of Regional Coordinating Entities to coordinate access to a broad array of housing stabilization services.
The report will be passed along to the Massachusetts Interagency Council on Homelessness and Housing for implementation. Acknowledging the significance and promise of the plan, Governor Patrick recommended $10 million in his proposed FY 09 state budget to carry out its recommendations. To view the entire commission report, click here.
JANUARY 2008
Governor Patrick Releases House 2 Budget for Fiscal Year 2009
On January 23, 2008 Governor Deval Patrick released his FY 09 budget recommendations for the Commonwealth, containing good news for homeless people. A new line item,1599-1004, was instituted and funded at $8.25 million to execute the wide-scale recommendations of the Commission to End Homelessness. Governor Patrick's budget also included $1.75 million through MassHousing for a total of $10 million dedicated to the goal of ending homelessness in Massachusetts.
“Once again, Governor Patrick has demonstrated his commitment to ending homelessness in the Commonwealth,” said MHSA Executive Director Joe Finn. “We are on the cusp of a revolution in the way homelessness is addressed in Massachusetts. These resources will be critical in moving us ever closer to solving, rather than just managing, the problem.”
In the coming months, MHSA will monitor the budget as it moves through the House and Senate and continue to advocate for the needs of chronically homeless individuals. Please click here for a comparative analysis between the final FY 08 budget and Governor Patrick's FY 09 recommendations.
