JULIA KEHOE
Subsidies necessary
As work continues on Beacon Hill to firm up the structure of legislative committees in upcoming days, housing advocates are gearing up to push for more funding for programs intended to prevent homelessness and assist some of the Bay State’s neediest families.
A top priority includes boosting the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program, which provides rental assistance to tenants who reside in privately owned apartments. Funding for the program has been slashed by millions of dollars during the last 15 years, transforming it from a $125 million initiative to a $24 million program today. Housing advocacy groups are seeking anywhere from a $10 million to $20 million increase to provide more vouchers for households.
“Without subsidies like the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program, many families are stuck in shelters or stuck in housing that is unsafe,” said Rachel Heller, housing policy advocate for Homes for Families, a Boston-based group focused on ending family homelessness.
With the state facing a projected budget deficit of $600 million, housing groups are unsure whether they will get a warm reception to their spending agendas this year. Health care appears to be a main concern for state legislators this year, and Gov. Mitt Romney recently announced his intention to increase local aid and education spending.
“With those three big items, it doesn’t leave room for a lot of other increases,” acknowledged Aaron Gornstein, director of the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association. “We’re going to have to work very hard to make our case that the housing crisis continues to get worse.”
Still, Gornstein described the funding increases that CHAPA and other organizations are requesting as “reasonable” and “modest.”
Advocates argue that it’s much more cost-effective in the long run for the state to invest in programs that prevent families and individuals from becoming homeless. Such programs include the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program.
Through the program, individuals can receive so-called mobile vouchers, which allow them to rent any apartment. The average mobile voucher was $478 per month as of last fall. There are also project-based vouchers that are attached to units within an apartment complex or development.
Even with the vouchers, some families are still using 50 percent to 70 percent of their income to pay rents in the Greater Boston region, according to housing agencies.
Julia Kehoe, executive director of the Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership, said the rental assistance program used to serve 18,000 households about 12 years ago when it was funded at $79 million, but now it’s helping only about 4,800 households.
The Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership is pushing for an additional $20 million for the program – $10 million to stabilize the program and another $10 million for new vouchers.
The rental voucher program is particularly critical since Bay State renters are unlikely to have access to any new rental assistance vouchers through the federal Section 8 program, according to Kehoe. In the past, the loss of state rental vouchers was made up by the greater number of Section 8 vouchers issued to the state, she said.
With the Section 8 program facing cuts and Massachusetts not receiving new vouchers, the state must step in to fill the gap, argue housing groups. “It’s going to cost far more in shelter and other related costs than if the state were to invest in this program,” Kehoe said.
Kehoe said the voucher program is important because affordable housing targeted to people who are earning at or below 30 percent of the area median income cannot be developed without some type of operating subsidy. “The only way to provide housing to extremely low-income people is through a subsidy,” she said.
Self-Sufficiency Initiative
Housing advocates also will urge lawmakers to revive the Individual Self-Sufficiency Initiative, a program designed to help working individuals who live in homeless shelters transition into housing. ISSI also has been used to develop new housing units, particularly single-room occupancy units that could be rented by the week.
“It’s [ISSI] been proven as an efficient, one-time, short-term subsidy in moving the so-called transitory homeless out of shelters,” said Joe Finn, executive director of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance.
Established in 2001, the program was gradually phased out in the last two years as state lawmakers sought to tighten spending. About two years ago, the program – then funded at $2.3 million – helped 550 individuals obtain permanent housing and generated 55 affordable housing units, according to MBHP.
Housing advocates want anywhere from $2.5 million to $5 million to bring ISSI back. Reinstating the program could help individuals living in shelters access up to $5,770 over a 12-month period to help them get back on their feet.
A program similar to ISSI, designed to help families instead of individuals, was launched in the fall. Known as Residential Assistance for Families in Transition, the program received $2 million last year.
In the first four months of the program’s existence, 896 families with an average income of roughly $15,000 were assisted. As of December, nearly half of the RAFT funds had been used, with families receiving an average of $1,288 to help them pay security deposits, utilities and back rent.
Housing advocates are seeking to double the funding for the program to a total of $4 million. Housing agencies like MBHP also would like to see the state change the income guidelines to help more families be considered eligible for assistance under RAFT.
Under current guidelines, families earning 130 percent of the federal poverty level, which translates into about $24,500 annually for a family of four, are eligible. MBHP would like to change the income cap so that families making up to 50 percent of the area median income – or $41,350 for a family of four – can get assistance. Such a change would help more families struggling to pay high rents in the Boston area, according to advocates.
MBHP also hopes the Legislature will shore up a program that provides rental assistance to people with disabilities, increasing funding from $2.3 million to $4 million.
Emergency shelter programs are also being eyed. Groups like MBHP and Homes for Families want to make sure that a greater pool of families with limited incomes have access to emergency shelters. Currently, families at 100 percent of the federal poverty level are eligible for the family emergency shelter program. Under those guidelines, a family of four would have to earn less than $18,000 a year.
MBPH and Homes for Families want to raise the income guideline to 130 percent of the federal poverty level, which would help a family of four making up to $24,500.
Even at that level, many families in Massachusetts cannot afford to rent an apartment and are often forced to double or triple up with other families in housing, according to Heller, of Homes for Families.
In addition, MBHP is requesting $1.5 million for nine regional housing consumer education centers that are operated by regional nonprofit housing agencies. Lawmakers allocated nearly $822,000 for the program last year. The centers provide information and services for renters, homeowners and landlords.
“We believe ending and preventing homelessness is possible with affordable rents, flexible funds for securing housing and connections to community supports,” said MBHP’s Kehoe.
Kehoe said the agency believes that anyone, even people who are chronically homeless, can be successfully housed. “For this reason, we believe state and federal funds should be targeted to producing, preserving and ensuring access to affordable housing and providing supportive services to stabilize tenancy.”
Aglaia Pikounis may be reached at apikounis@thewarrengroup.com.
