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Baker-Polito administration unveils initiatives to reduce homelessness

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Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito unveiled a series of reforms aimed at reducing family homelessness and proposed a $20 million ‘End Family Homelessness Reserve Fund.’ The proposals reorganize efforts around prevention, support aggressive casework to shorten the length of shelter stays and task the Executive Office of Health and Human Services with implementing the new policies to combat homelessness.

These reforms and the $20 million ‘End Family Homelessness Reserve Fund’ proposal will be part of the administration’s Fiscal Year (FY) ‘16 budget. An additional $2 million for homelessness support services at the Department of Mental Health is also included in the budget, and the administration has identified an additional $1.5 million for the HomeBASE program, which provides short-term housing assistance.

“It is a human tragedy that more and more Massachusetts families become homeless and it’s clear we must reprioritize how these families are served,” Baker said. “The aggressive strategies and reserve fund we proposed today will cut down the time people spend in shelters away from their community, and get them into stable living conditions faster. We must reprioritize our strategies because it’s clear the policies in place now are not getting the job done.”

“These reforms will allow us to assist families with their core needs, whether they be child care, education, job training, rental assistance, medical care or substance abuse treatment,” said Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders. “This will give them more than a place to live, it will give them hope and direction to ensure their lives are improving over time.”

The Baker-Polito family homelessness reforms include meeting families at the “front door” of Emergency Assistance and connecting them quickly with the resources they need, this is in the best interest of the families, and is also more cost-effective than placing a family in a shelter or motel where it may take months for them to receive services. Pursuing this strategy will reduce the number of families in shelters in motels and allow the state to invest in other services for our most vulnerable children and their families.

To better meet the needs of homeless families, Governor Baker and Lieutenant Governor Polito are proposing:

  • $20 million for the End Family Homelessness Reserve Fund
  • Tasking the Executive Office of Health and Human Services to take the lead in developing a solution along with the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development
  • An investment of resources into programs that both prevent families from becoming homeless and shorten the time homeless families spend in shelters before obtaining stable living conditions
  • A concentrated focus on the unique service needs of each family
  • The number of homeless families in Massachusetts is at the highest level in the history of the family sheltering program since it began 30 years ago. There are approximately 4,500 families in Massachusetts’ Emergency Assistance shelter program. More than 1,400 of these families with children are being temporarily sheltered in hotels and motels across Massachusetts because emergency shelters are full.

State spending on hotels and motels for homeless families this year will be more than $40 million, or $110,000 a day, compared with $1 million six years ago. For FY ‘15, the total amount expended on Emergency Assistance for homeless families is expected to be more than $180 million, up from $150 million in FY10. While the number of homeless families is declining nationally, the number of homeless families continues to rise in Massachusetts.

These families are frequently placed in motels far away from where they have been living, which means they are separated from their communities and family support networks, and their kids miss days or weeks of school, or have to be transported back to their home communities to attend school.

The average motel stay is seven months, at a cost to the state of $2500/month.