CHAPA CALL TO ACTION! CONTACT YOUR STATE SENATOR: Massachusetts Senate Begins Debate on the FY2017 Budget - May 19, 2016

Earlier this week, the Senate Committee on Ways and Means (SWM) released its state budget recommendations for fiscal year 2017 (FY2017). The budget includes strong support for many affordable housing and homelessness prevention programs. Click here for an overview of how CHAPA’s priorities were funded in the HWM budget proposal.

The budget proposal includes $100 million for the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP). It also increased funding for the Alternative Housing Voucher Program (AHVP), which provides rental vouchers for persons with disabilities.  The budget authorizes the expansion of Housing Court statewide and increases funding for the Tenancy Preservation Program, which works in Housing Courts to help persons with disabilities facing eviction.
 
As the Massachusetts Senate prepares to debate the budget next week, legislators are filing amendments to the budget in support of CHAPA priorities. As the need for affordable housing and homelessness prevention services grow, these amendments will build on the work of Senate Ways and Means to provide more housing opportunities and improve the way programs work. For a full list of amendments supported by CHAPA, click here.
 
Please ask your Senator today to co-sponsor and support these amendments in order to help the Commonwealth reduce homelessness and housing instability, help persons with disabilities and seniors access affordable housing, strengthen our communities, and create jobs. Click here to find your Senator’s contact information.
 
For more information on these amendments, please contact Eric Shupin at eshupin@chapa.org or (617) 742-0820 x105.
 
For more materials on the state budget and CHAPA’s priorities, please click here.
 
As always, thank you for your advocacy!

Senator Linda Dorcena Forry’s amendment restores funding for the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP) to $120 million. Funding MRVP at $120 million will increase the number of vouchers available, help preserve affordable housing developments, and restore the program to its 1990 funding level when the combined state voucher and Chapter 707 programs funded more than double the number of vouchers funded today.  The amendment also makes the following important programmatic improvements to MRVP that will help tenants be more stable in their housing and reduce lengthy lease-up times:

• Make MRVP more usable by increasing voucher rent caps by aligning them with current fair market rent standards for Section 8 vouchers;
• Get vouchers out faster by mandating a date for the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) to start issuing new vouchers;
• Improve program efficiencies by authorizing DHCD to create a management system for MRVP; and
• Continue to allow DHCD to set the monthly voucher administration fee.

Restore the Alternative Housing Voucher Program (AHVP) (7004-9030)
Amendment 734

Senator Jamie Eldridge’s amendment increases funding for AHVP to $7.1 million in order to expand housing opportunities for low-income adults with disabilities. AHVP furthers the Commonwealth’s goal of providing persons with disabilities choices to live in community-based housing that helps avoid more costly institutions or homelessness. $7.1 million will provide rental assistance to approximately 800 households, the number of vouchers originally supported by AHVP in 1995.

Improve AHVP (7004-9030)
Amendment 789

Senator Jamie Eldridge’s amendment makes important programmatic improvements to AHVP that will help persons with disabilities be more stable in their housing and will eventually help build more affordable and accessible homes. The amendment changes AHVP’s enabling legislation to clarify that AHVP is not a transitional housing program. The amendment also allows for vouchers to be project-based, which can help create new accessible housing.

Increase Public Housing Operating Subsidy (7004-9005)
Amendment 783

Senator Linda Dorcena Forry’s amendment increases funding for state public housing from $64.5 million to $72 million. These funds help support over 45,600 state public housing units, with over two-thirds of these homes dedicated for the elderly and persons with disabilities. Unfortunately, years of underfunding have left many housing authorities struggling to operate and keep units in good repair. The additional $7.5 million will help provide a 5.5% increase in housing authority operating budgets.

Public Housing Reform (7004-9007)
Amendment 782

Senator Linda Dorcena Forry’s amendment increases funding to implement public housing reform to $2 million. Signed into law in August 2014, these reforms improve governance and operation of local housing authorities by assisting with capital improvements, unit turn over, and creating a centralized waitlist. The reforms also increase tenant participation and promote economies of scale by encouraging collaborations among housing authorities.

Technical Changes to the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust (MAHT) Statute
Amendment 106

Senator Barbara L’Italien’s amendment makes technical changes to the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust statute. MAHTs and the Community Preservation Act (CPA) are tools that many communities use to create affordable housing. Most of these local trusts receive much of their funding from the CPA. Currently, the CPA and Housing Trust statutes are not aligned in how funding can be used. As a result, the rules of CPA do not necessarily follow as the money is placed into MAHTs. Senator L’Italien’s amendment: 

• Clarifies that any eligible use of CPA funds for affordable housing is also an eligible use of MAHT funds;
• Clarifies that restrictions on the use of CPA funds remain in force even after CPA funds are transferred to a MAHT and requires that the use of those funds by the Trusts be included in the CPA reporting to the Department of Revenue; 
• Authorizes MAHTs to execute grant agreements, establishing conditions for the transfer of CPA funds; and
• Makes these changes effective at the beginning of FY17.

Improve Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT) (7004-9316)
Amendment 706

Senator Jamie Eldridge’s amendment increases funding for RAFT from $12.5 million to $18.5 million to expand access to the program to serve new populations and to ensure that it is available year-round to help families remain housed. The expanded eligibility will help prevent homelessness by allowing the elderly, people with disabilities, unaccompanied youth, and households without children to access RAFT.

Improve HomeBASE (7004-0108)
Amendment 426

Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz’s amendment builds off of the pilot program included in the Senate Ways and Means proposal to make HomeBASE available to eligible homeless families in domestic violence shelters or substance abuse programs. It moves this pilot program from the Emergency Assistance line-item (7004-0101) to the HomeBASE line-item. The amendment also allows a household to renew HomeBASE if the family is facing eviction, loss of housing stability, or the need to re-enter shelter. Finally, the amendment increases funding for HomeBASE to $39.2 million.

Expand Access to Foreclosure Counseling (7006-0011)
Amendment 698

Senator Jamie Eldridge’s amendment allows the Division of Banks to retain an additional $1.3 million from mortgage loan originator license fees in order to support foreclosure counseling at housing agencies across the Commonwealth. The Ch. 206 foreclosure counseling grants have helped achieve the best possible outcome for many struggling homeowners. Increased funding for the program will support other effective foreclosure prevention tools, such as direct advocacy and counseling.

Economic Mobility Commission
Amendment 810

Senator Linda Dorcena Forry’s amendment brings together stakeholders to study data related to programs that provide joint support for stable housing and efforts to increase economic self-sufficiency. The Commission will bring together state agencies with researchers, service providers, and policy groups to examine program components and the feedback of program participants and those not enrolled in the program to determine which models work best and what kinds of programs could be scaled throughout the state to help families and individuals with low incomes to increase their incomes and their economic mobility. 

Expand the Tenancy Preservation Program (TPP) (7004-3045)
Amendment 609

Senator Michael Brady’s amendment increases funding for TPP from $750,000 to $975,000. In consultation with the Housing Court, TPP works with households with disabilities facing eviction to determine whether a disability can be reasonably accommodated in order to preserve the tenancy. In FY2015, TPP stabilized 93% of households served. The additional funds for TPP would allow the program to serve more persons with disabilities and would help grow the program if Housing Court expands statewide.

Support the Community Preservation Act (CPA)
Amendment 58

Senator Cynthia Creem’s amendment authorizes the transfer of up to $25 million from the end-of-year budget surplus to the Community Preservation Trust Fund. The transferring of funds from the end-of-budget surplus supplements revenue from the deeds recording fee. This funding is vital to sustaining the CPA program. CPA is one of the most effective state-local partnerships, resulting in a significant investment in affordable housing, historic preservation, recreational facilities, and open space.

Expand Home and Healthy for Good (HHG)
Amendment 800

Senator Linda Dorcena Forry’s amendment increases funding for HHG from $1.8 million to $2.3 million. HHG is a Housing First program that provides permanent supportive housing for the chronically homeless, including a program for LGBTQ unaccompanied homeless youths. Since 2006, the program has placed 860 homeless people into homes. According to the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance, the program saves the Commonwealth an annual average of $12,101 per person because of a decreased reliance on other expensive public services, including emergency medical care, shelter, and incarceration.

Increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
Amendment 11

Senator Jamie Eldridge’s amendment increases the state EITC from 23% to 30% of the federal EITC amount. Increasing the EITC will help working families make ends meet to help pay for housing, food, and childcare. The amendment also allows survivors of domestic violence and abandoned spouses to access the EITC.

Fund Fuel Assistance
Amendment 848

Senator Benjamin Downing's amendment creates a new $5 million line item for fuel assistance. The federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) allocation has decreased from $200 million to $133 million, leaving nearly 200,000 households vulnerable to exhausting their fuel assistance benefit long before winter ends. By creating a new line item and supplementing the federal allocation, these low-income families, children, and elderly residents will have additional help staying safe and warm through the entire winter.

Recapitalize the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund
Amendment 855

Senator Eileen Donoghue’s amendment creates a line item for the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund and recapitalizes the program with $2.5 million. Since its creation in 1998, more than $82 million has been awarded for the assessment or remediation of environmentally distressed sites in 106 cities and towns. The Fund has created over 4,000 homes and supported over 2,700 jobs. Redeveloping these sites revitalizes distressed areas and advances the state’s desire to promote smart, sustainable development.