CHAPA ACTION ALERT! Contact Your State Representative as Massachusetts House Begins Debate on FY2018 Budget! - April 24, 2017

Today, the Massachusetts House of Representatives begins debate of its FY2018 budget.  Please call or email your State Representative to ask her or him to support the following amendments for affordable housing, homelessness prevention, and community development programs in the budget!

Click here to find your State Representative's contact information.

Thank you to those who have already reached out to their state Representative. As always, thanks also for your advocacy in helping to make sure everyone in the Commonwealth has a safe, healthy, and affordable place to call home.

Restore the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP) (7004-9024)
Amendment 780
Representative Paul Donato's amendment restores funding for MRVP to $120 million. This will increase the number of vouchers available, help preserve affordable housing developments, and restore the program to its 1990 funding level.

Improve MRVP (7004-9024)
Amendment 382
Representative Mike Connolly's amendment makes the following important improvements to increase the MRVP's effectiveness:

• Makes MRVP more usable by increasing voucher rent caps to current fair market rent standards;
• Gets vouchers out faster by mandating a date for the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) to issue new vouchers;
• Improves program efficiencies by authorizing DHCD to create a voucher management system for MRVP; and
• Allows MRVP appropriations from previous budget years to transfer over to the current budget for the program.

Restore the Alternative Housing Voucher Program (AHVP) (7004-9030)
Amendment 298
Representative Marjorie Decker's amendment restores funding for AHVP to $7.5 million to expand housing opportunities for low-income adults with disabilities.

Improve Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT) (7004-9316)
Amendment 90
Representative Marjorie Decker’s amendment increases funding for RAFT to $18.5 million to ensure that it is available year-round to help families facing housing instability. It also makes sure that RAFT continues to serve families, elders, persons with disabilities, and unaccompanied youth.

Improve HomeBASE (7004-0108)
Amendment 382
Representative Christine Barber’s amendment provides $35 million for HomeBASE and makes the following program improvements:

• Allows families to renew their HomeBASE benefits at the end of the first 12-month period, if otherwise facing a return to homelessness;
• ​Allows families who have been terminated from the program to receive benefits again after 12 months, instead of the current, excessive 24-month bar on receiving further assistance;
• Removes the $300,000 cap on the program allowing families staying in DV or substance abuse shelters or sober living program to access HomeBASE, if otherwise eligible; and
• Re-inserts language allowing forward funding for HomeBASE. 

Expand Access to Foreclosure Counseling (7006-0011)
Amendment 1155
Representative Adrian Madaro’s amendment allows the Division of Banks to retain $1.8 million from mortgage loan originator license fees in order to support foreclosure and housing counseling across the Commonwealth. The amendment would ensure that at least $1.3 million would be made available for Ch.206 Awards for foreclosure and first time homebuyer counseling.

Expand the Tenancy Preservation Program (TPP) (7004-3045)
Amendment 531
Representative Byron Rushing’s amendment provides $500,000 more in funding for TPP. 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 help more persons with disabilities avoid homelessness.

Recapitalize the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund
Amendment 920
Representative Chris Walsh’s amendment creates a line-item for the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund and recapitalizes the program with $15 million to help clean up environmentally distressed sites in cities and towns across Massachusetts. 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.

Fund Fuel Assistance
Amendment 118
Representative Paul Mark's amendment creates a new $7.5 million program for fuel assistance. As the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) allocation faces elimination under the current Administration, nearly 200,000 households would be left vulnerable to running out of fuel assistance long before winter ends. By creating a new fuel assistance program, these households will be able to stay safe and warm during the entire winter.

Fund the Unaccompanied Homeless Youth Reserve Fund (4000-0007)
Amendment 1088
Representative Jim O'Day's amendment funds the Unaccompanied Homeless Youth Reserve Fund with $4 million. This investment provides expanded funding for unaccompanied homeless youth, promoting housing and support services for these youths and young adults experiencing homelessness.