State budget: we'll all be hurt, but poor take the biggest hit

I received the following message from the Mass Coalition for the Homeless last night. PLEASE take action TODAY-- and don't forget the little car program from my previous post.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee released its version of the fiscal year 2010 budget today, and the outlook it paints is bleak.

In the face of the ever-worsening economic crisis, the Senate Ways and Means (SWM) budget includes $26.7 billion in spending recommendations for FY'10, which will begin on July 1st. (As a comparison, the state anticipates it will spend $29.1 billion during this current fiscal year.)

The Senate Ways and Means budget includes $2.4 billion in cuts to state programs and services, including the elimination of 77 line items. As compared to Governor Patrick and the final House of Representative's proposed budgets, the SWM budget is based on a dramatically lower revenue projection for next year, $1.5 billion lower than the projection used by the House just a few weeks ago. The SWM budget does not include any proposals for raising taxes, but the full Senate is expected to take up the tax debate next week.

The SWM Committee has proposed devastating cuts to many of the key homelessness, housing, and safety net program line items. The budget would:

-- Reduce funding for the Emergency Assistance family shelter program (FY'10 line item 7004-0101; current line item 4403-2120) from the FY'09 spending level of $113.4 million to $82.6 million for FY'10. (This is $11.2 million less than the House's budget proposal for FY'10.) The Senate Ways and Means Committee has recommended the elimination of eligibility for families with incomes between 100%-130% of the federal poverty guidelines. (For a family of three, income eligibility would be reduced from $23,803/year to $18,310/year.) Based on data from the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA), there were 158 families with children in shelter in March 2009 who had incomes between 100%-130% of the federal poverty guidelines. If those numbers are representative of a typical month, the change sought by the Senate Ways and Means Committee could lead to more than 300 children each month being left without the basic safety net of shelter! The SWM budget also lacks critical line item language included in the final House budget that would require the Department of Housing and Community Development to apply the regulations used by DTA at the time of the program's transfer on July 1st, and additional provisions that would protect families.

-- Impose a 45% reduction in spending for the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP, line item 7004-9024). This is the same as the House Ways and Means Committee proposal, which was rejected by the full House during their budget debate. If the SWM funding level remains in the final budget, this reduction of funding to $17,997,061 in FY'10 could lead to an unconscionable loss of subsidies for 2,300-2,900 extremely low-income households in Massachusetts. Outside Section 73 of the Senate Ways and Means budget would require the Massachusetts Housing Finance Authority (MassHousing, an independent public authority) to provide additional funding for MRVP, as was provided in FY'09- although it is unclear if these funds exist (as the FY'09 MassHousing contribution was referred to as "one-time funding"). At a time when the Commonwealth has committed itself to ending homelessness, we unfortunately may see how the economic crisis and budget decisions will increase the level of homelessness in our state.

-- Cut $10 million from the Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled and Children Program (line item 4408-1000), a program that provides cash assistance to extremely low-income elders and persons with disabilities. This could lead to a dramatic benefit reduction for program participants, who currently receive only $304/month!

-- Slash funding for the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition Program (RAFT, line item 7004-9316) from $5.5 million in FY'09 to only $2 million in FY'10. SWM also would limit benefits to $2,000 per household, from the current benefit limit of $3,000 per household. If the average payment per family remains the same as FY'09 levels, the program would be able to serve approximately 1,100 families in FY'10 versus an estimated 3,000 families in FY'09.

Senate members only have until this Friday, May 15th at noon to submit floor amendments to this proposed budget. The Senate is scheduled to debate this budget and consider floor amendments starting next Tuesday, May 19th.

The Coalition will be back in touch shortly regarding floor amendments that need your support, as well as other advocacy efforts to protect these vital programs. In the meantime, please continue your outreach to your State Senator to let him/her know that you support increasing state revenues so as to protect key services and resources for families and individuals who are at-risk or experiencing homelessness.

We hope to see you at the Stop the Cuts rally and lobby day at the State House this upcoming Monday, May 18th, from noon-1 p.m.: Stop the Cuts rally information

Once again, we are grateful for your tireless advocacy during these difficult financial times!

Senate Ways and Means Committee Budget Recommendations for Homelessness Prevention, Shelter, Housing, and Benefits Programs

Please follow this link to access the Coalition's chart comparing the Senate Ways and Means Committee's recommendations with the FY'09 appropriations, the Governor's FY'10 recommendations, and the final House FY'10 recommendations: Budget Comparison Chart

To access the Senate Ways and Means Committee's complete budget recommendations, please go to Senate Ways and Means' FY'10 Budget Recommendations

To learn more about the Coalition's FY'10 budget work, please go to the Coalition's FY'10 Priorities

We hope you will join us as the Coalition continues to push for the protection of housing and homelessness programs for FY'10. We will keep you informed of the progress as the state's budget makes it way through the next stages in the weeks ahead.

For more information, please contact Leslie Lawrence

or Kelly Turley at the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, 781-595-7570.

Take action for homeless families

If you live in Massachusetts, you have a chance to stick up for homeless families. Call your legislator and tell him or her to oppose these proposed regulations (below) that would make it harder for homeless families to get into shelter.

You can get a list of your legislators by town here. You can find your legislators' phone numbers here.

For more information, contact Mass. Coalition for the Homeless, 781-595-7570.

SAVE ACCESS TO EMERGENCY SHELTER FOR HOMELESS FAMILIES
The Patrick Administration has proposed to restrict access to emergency shelter for children and
families experiencing homelessness, beginning on April 1. Please take all steps possible to ensure
that these restrictions do not take effect, including calling the Governor and asking him to withdraw
the proposed restrictions and supporting supplemental funding for family shelter (item 4403-2120).
The proposals to restrict shelter access for homeless children are based on a projected budget deficit
of less than $3.4 million in the family shelter account for the current fiscal year. This deficit is directly
related to the skyrocketing number of families facing homelessness due to the poor national economy.
These families are in desperate need for help, and restricting access to shelter in these precarious
times is not the answer. And these punitive proposals wouldn’t even resolve the deficit, since they
would “save” the state less than $520,000 this fiscal year.
The restrictions on access to shelter are unnecessary to close the projected deficit. The state is
expected to receive from the Federal Economic Recovery bill more than $17 million this fiscal year
and another $23 million next year in emergency TANF funds that are specifically intended to help the
state meet the costs of serving more low-income families in need. These funds can be used to
cover the shelter deficit and avoid harm to homeless children. In addition, the Federal Economic
Recovery package is expected to include additional Emergency Shelter Grant funding that can be
used to prevent homelessness in the longer run. Also, the regional coordinating entities established
through the work of the Commission to End Homelessness -- whose mission is to pilot and study
creative ways to prevent homelessness -- are not yet operating but are scheduled to begin operations
in the next few weeks. We should allow the regional entities to do their work, as their efforts should
render these new restrictions unnecessary.
The eight proposed restrictions on shelter access (see over) include denying eligibility for shelter
and services to children and families who have been evicted or voluntarily left subsidized or
public housing in the past three years. This proposal is particularly unfair and unwise because:
• Emergency shelter was created to protect children who have no control over their parents’
conduct. Denying them shelter will punish kids unfairly. Moreover, many families are evicted
from subsidized housing due to issues beyond their control, such as those related to disability,
domestic violence, limited English proficiency, or conduct by someone who is no longer a part
of the household seeking shelter. In some cases, families are evicted from housing because
they never even got the court papers telling them when their eviction hearing was.
• There are inadequate systems in place to prevent evictions. Few public housing authorities
have eviction mediation systems and most tenants in eviction proceedings do not have legal
counsel to represent them (in 2005, only 6% of tenants but 66% of landlords were
represented). Denying emergency shelter to families evicted from subsidized housing will
reduce the incentive the state has to create better eviction prevention systems, and therefore
will not further the Commission's goal of preventing homelessness.
• Without shelter and housing search services, these families will have no safe places to go and
their children may have to enter state custody, causing greater trauma to the children and
greater expenses for the state over time.
ACT NOW TO PROTECT FAMILIES EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS!
For more information, please contact Mass. Law Reform Institute 617-357-0700 (Ruth Bourquin x333,
rbourquin@mlri.org or Deborah Silva x340 dsilva@mlri.org), Mass. Coalition for the Homeless 781-595-7570 (Leslie
Lawrence x16, leslie@mahomeless.org or Kelly Turley x17, kelly@mahomeless.org), Greater Boston Legal Services
(Steve Valero 617-603-1654 svalero@gbls.org), South Coastal County Legal Services (Rick McIntosh 508-775-7020
x114 rmcintosh@sccls.org), Legal Assistance Corporation of Central Mass. (Faye Rachlin 508-752-3718
frachlin@laccm.org), Western Mass. Legal Services (Marion Hohn 413-686-9015 mhohn@wmls.org), Neighborhood
Legal Services (Emily Herzig 781-244-1405 eherzig@nlsma.org), Cambridge and Somerville Legal Services (Ellen
Shachter 617-603-2731 eshachter@gbls.org).
General Description of Proposed Restrictions on Family Shelter Access
(Note: As of February 3, 2009, the Administration has not yet made available to the Legislature
or the public a copy of the actual language of the proposed regulations.)
The Patrick Administration is proposing to:
1. Deny access to shelter to any family who has been evicted or who has voluntarily departed
public or subsidized housing in the past 3 years without good cause. See discussion on page 1.
• No details currently available about what will constitute good cause.
• Existing rules already bar families whose current homelessness is caused by eviction for
criminal activity, destruction of property or nonpayment of rent.
2. Impose a 30-hour per week work requirement on families in shelter and kick them out of
shelter if they cannot comply.
• While details are currently lacking, the requirement reportedly will be imposed even though
there are few jobs and training opportunities in the current economy, without regard to the
age of the youngest child, with no exemptions for families with disability-related barriers
(although DTA has indicated that individualized reasonable modifications will be available).
• In 2004, the Legislature said families in shelter should not be subject to other work
requirements because they need to prioritize housing search obligations.
3. Reduce the period that families who go over the income limit can stay in shelter and try to
find housing from the 6 months set by the Legislature to only 3 months.
• Given the economy and lack of housing subsidies, 3 months is not much time for families
to secure safe, permanent housing; families who run out of time could be forced into
unsustainable housing arrangements.
• The Administration says it believes it can find these families housing within 3 months. If
that is the case, there is no need for the change in the rule.
4. Deny continued access to shelter to families who are absent from a shelter placement for 2
or more consecutive nights or for 1 night on repeated occasions without advance approval.
• No details currently available as to how onerous the requirements for getting approval will
be or whether this will prevent families from temporarily staying with relatives or attending
to crises, even if they have given DTA or their shelter provider advance notice.
5. Deny continued access to shelter for families who reject just one offer of housing.
• No details currently available as to any exceptions that might be allowed or whether the
housing offer must be in a place close to jobs, schools, medical providers, etc.
6. Deny access to shelter to families in which the only child is between the ages of 19 and 21
unless the child is disabled or in high school and expected to graduate by age 19.
• Under this plan, most families with dependents aged 19-21 would be sent to already overburdened
individual shelters, where access is not guaranteed and family members may be
separated from one another.
7. Deny access to shelter to children whose parents have outstanding default or arrest warrants.
• Children would be kept out of shelter even though state statute authorizes denial of
benefits only to the person with the outstanding warrant.
8. Require all families in shelters (but not including motels) to “save” 30% of their income as a
condition of continued eligibility for shelter.

Mass Coalition for the Homeless needs legislative sponsors

MCH Bill Priorities, 2009-2010 Session

Please Contact Your Legislator and Ask Him or Her to Support Three Bills That Will Help Low Income Individuals and Families to Maintain and Obtain Housing

In January 2009, the Legislature initiated its 2009-2010 bill session. The Coalition has worked closely with several legislators to file three critical pieces of legislation to assist low income families and individuals:

• "An Act to Protect and Improve the Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled and Children (EAEDC) Program" being filed in the House by Representatives Kathi-Anne Reinstein and Ruth Balser, and in the Senate by Senator Susan Tucker improves the safety net for destitute seniors, people with disabilities and homeless high school/vocational school students. This bill would:

1. Gradually raise the EAEDC grant until it matches the level of assistance provided to recipients of the state's Transitional Assistance to Families with Dependent Children program ($428/ month for a household of one) through regular Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs).

2. Restore EAEDC payments to full-time students attending a high school, vocational school or GED program to help them complete their educations.

3. Facilitate the movement of EAEDC recipients onto Federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program by providing legal assistance and support with applications and appeals.

Fact Sheet on Bill.

• "An Act to Prevent Homelessness Among Recipients of Transitional Assistance" being filed in the House by Representative Denise Provost and in the Senate by Senators Pat Jehlen and Karen Spilka would establish a housing stability screening program at the Department of Transitional Assistance and would improve income benefits to TAFDC and EAEDC recipients experiencing homelessness. The bill would

1. Establish regular housing stability screenings with participants in DTA cash and nutritional assistance programs to assess if these families and individuals are at risk of homelessness.

2. Provide stabilization funds and services to link at-risk households to needed resources.

3. Increase income supports to TAFDC and EAEDC households experiencing homelessness, establishing escrow accounts with the money currently being deducted from their monthly grants.

Fact Sheet on Bill.

• "An Act to Prevent Homelessness by Removing Barriers to Subsidized Housing" being filed by Representative Carl Sciortino will complement ongoing efforts by the Commonwealth to prevent homelessness and reduce reliance on emergency shelter by removing unwarranted barriers to those who are homeless or at imminent risk of homelessness to accessing permanently affordable, subsidized housing.

Fact Sheet

Homelessness increases under Bloomberg's plan to end homelessness in NYC

Four years into Mayor Bloomberg's five year plan to end homelessness in New York City, more people than ever spent time in a shelter last year, according to the ninth annual "State of the Homeless" report issued by the Coalition for the Homeless last month..

102,187 people spent time in a New York City shelter last year, a 5.8% increase over 2006.

"For the second year in a row, more families sought shelter (up by 10.7%) while fewer families were moved into permanent housing (down 6.9%), " the report said. The Bloomberg administration's refusal to issue Section 8 vouchers and access to public housing for homeless families is contributing to the increase in homelessness.

In addition, stringent standards for shelter eligibility implemented last year denied shelter to dozens of families, two-thirds of whom were actually eligible for shelter even under those standards.

Single homelessness has seen a decline for the second year in a row, but the Coalition marks the decrease as a result of single people being placed in illegal boarding house, some of which are later shut down by the city, putting people back in the shelter again.

Picture the Homeless, a NYC organization founded by and run by for homeless people, is asking its allies to hold open the date June 24, 2008, the official fourth anniversary of the five year plan.

"Picture the Homeless is not going to sit back as the anniversary approaches and do nothing to commemorate its failure," according to the Rental Subsidies Committee. Stay tuned.

Massachusetts fails former welfare recipients

Welfare benefits have never been high, but once upon a time, if you were really careful, you could raise your family with some dignity. Of course, in 1987, the year I mustered up my courage to get off welfare and take a job for the princely sum of $10,000 a year, the average apartment rent was $400, gasoline was under a dollar a gallon, and a dozen eggs only sixty-five cents. Welfare benefits then were 37% below the Federal poverty level, about what they are now. But things cost less in 1987.

But change was written on the wall. Reagan had launched his "Welfare Queen" propaganda and by the time Clinton came along the idea of welfare reform was in full swing. Not that welfare didn't need to be reformed, but what Clinton version we njicknamed "welfare deform."

In the thirteen years since welfare reform was instituted nationally, the number of welfare recipients in Massachusetts has fallen by more than half, to about 46,000. The Commonwealth has saved more than $680 million. But poverty levels have remained nearly unchanged-- 10.4% of Massachusetts residents lived in poverty in 1997, 9.7% in 2003 and 11.1% in 2005-- and less than half of the money Massachusetts saved has been put back into programs that help poor families survive. Meanwhile more and more working families, who'd like to stay off public assistance if they could, move closer to the poverty line.

Dan Ring at the Springfield Republican reports on some of welfare reforms failures identified in a new study released April 1 by the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center .

My organization, Arise for Social Justice, is starting to look at what it would take to get a cost of living increase for welfare recipients. With two year time limits, benefits are set so low it very difficult to get ahead enough to get off welfare without calamity. We are already working with the Mass Coalition for the Homeless to get a COLA for recipients of EAEDC-- Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled and Children-- a barebones program that provides basic monthly assistance to nearly 5,000 elders and 12,000 persons with disabilities. The EAEDC grant for recipients living in housing is currently $304/month; homeless recipients receive only $92/month;.it has not been increased in twenty years!

If you live in Massachusetts let your legislators know you support this increase-- $46 a month for housed people, $14 a month for the homeless. (I know, it doesn't make sense to me, either, but the idea is, if you live in a shelter you don't have to pay rent!) We won't eliminate poverty with this increase, but it might mean someone can afford a boarding house.