CHAPA Action Alert! Contact Your State Senator to Support Affordable Housing, Homelessness Prevention, and Community Development Programs in the FY2018 Budget! - May 18, 2017
Earlier this week, the Senate Committee on Ways and Means (SWM) released its state budget recommendations for fiscal year 2018 (FY2018). The budget includes strong support for many affordable housing and homelessness prevention programs! For an overview of how CHAPA’s priorities were funded in the SWM budget proposal, please click here.
The budget proposal includes $100 million for the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program. It also increases funding for the Alternative Housing Voucher Program, Residential Assistance for Families in Transition, HomeBASE, Housing Consumer Education Centers, and housing and services for unaccompanied homeless youths.
CHAPA thanks Senate President Stan Rosenberg, Senator Karen Spilka, Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, and all members of SWM for their leadership in making sure everyone in the Commonwealth has a safe, healthy, and affordable place to call home.
As the Massachusetts Senate prepares to debate the budget next week, legislators are filing amendments in support of CHAPA priorities. Please call or email your State Senator today to ask her or him to address the growing need for affordable housing, homelessness prevention, and community development resources by co-sponsoring these amendments!
Click here to find your State Senator’s contact information. You can call or copy and paste the below information into an email to your Senator asking him or her to sign-on to the amendments.
If you have any questions about these amendments, please contact Eric Shupin, CHAPA's Director of Public Policy, at eshupin@chapa.org or (617) 742-0820 x103.
CHAPA will be at the State House all next week watching the budget debate. For real-time updates, follow us on Twitter - @CHAPAdotorg!
As always, thank you for your advocacy!
Restore and Improve the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP) (7004-9024)
Amendment 656
Senator Joseph Boncore’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. The amendment also makes the following important improvements to MRVP:
- Makes MRVP more usable by increasing voucher rent caps to current fair market rent standards; 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 641
Senator Jamie Eldridge’s amendment restores funding for AHVP to $7.5 million to expand housing opportunities for low-income adults with disabilities. The amendment would also allow AHVP vouchers to be project-based.
Increase Public Housing Operating Subsidy (7004-9005)
Amendment 620
Senator Joseph Boncore’s amendment increases funding for state public housing by $1 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.
Public Housing Reform (7004-9007)
Amendment 646
Senator Joseph Boncore’s amendment increases funding to implement public housing reform to $1.2 million. This will help improve governance and operation of local housing authorities and allow DHCD to create a centralized online application and waitlist for state public housing.
Expand HomeBASE (7004-0108)
Amendment 651
Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz’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; and
- Removes the $300,000 cap on the program allowing families in domestic violence or substance abuse shelters, or those participating in sober living program to access HomeBASE, if otherwise eligible.
Protect Access to Foreclosure & Homeowner Counseling (7006-0011)
Amendment 643
Senator Jamie Eldridge’s amendment allows the Division of Banks to retain up to $3.65 million from mortgage loan originator license fees in order to support foreclosure and housing counseling across the Commonwealth. It also dedicates at least $1.3 million for these counseling programs in FY2018.
Expand the Tenancy Preservation Program (TPP) (7004-3045)
Amendment 679
Senator James Welch’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 588
Senator Donoghue’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.
Support Home & Healthy for Good (7004-0104)
Amendment 574
Senator Jennifer Flanagan’s amendment provides $200,000 more in funding for Home and Healthy for Good (HHG) to provide housing and supportive services to chronically homeless individuals through a low-threshold, Housing First model that is less costly and more effective than managing their homelessness and health problems on the street or in shelter.
Fund the Unaccompanied Homeless Youth Reserve Fund (4000-0007)
Amendment 481
Senator Jason Lewis’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.
Support New Lease for Homeless Families (New – 7004-0106)
Amendment 628
Senator Eldridge’s amendment creates a new line-item to support New Lease for Homeless Families. New Lease houses homeless families residing in state-funded shelters and hotels by implementing a preference for these families in properties across the Commonwealth. Through New Lease, homeless families have the opportunity to live in desirable and affordable communities with the supports they need to achieve successful tenancies.