Housing advocates will head to the State House tomorrow to request more funding for programs that help the homeless, low-income tenants and poor families.
Even as state legislators are focused on hashing out differences over health care plans, housing advocates will head to Beacon Hill tomorrow pushing for more funding to prevent homelessness and to expand a pilot program that brings housing counselors to community health centers.
The Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless will be at the State House urging state leaders to boost funding for programs that help low-income tenants with rent payments and that assist families in paying for utilities, security deposits, moving costs and first and last months’ rent.
The group also wants the state to revive the Individual Self-Sufficiency Initiative Program, which helps homeless individuals and people on the verge of becoming homeless to obtain or retain permanent housing and provides money to produce new affordable housing units. The program, referred to as ISSI, was established in 2001 but was phased out about three years ago as the state sought to tighten spending.
“There are currently no prevention dollars within the state budget to allow individuals to retain their housing,” said Robyn Frost, executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless.
Housing advocates are asking for $5 million to restore ISSI, which they estimate can help as many as 1,300 individuals in the Bay State.
The Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless is also seeking $500,000 to expand a statewide pilot program called First Stop Initiative that was established in 2004. The program, which has been funded with private grants, places experienced housing counselors in community health centers located in low-income neighborhoods to identify and assist families and individuals on the brink of losing their housing because of a missed rent payment or unpaid utility bills.
As part of the program, staff members from the coalition have been meeting with patients at the Codman Square Health Center in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood and the Lynn Community Health Center and linking them with resources and services to keep them in their homes. The coalition hopes to expand the pilot program to centers in East Boston, Lawrence and Brockton.
Described as an early warning homelessness prevention program, the program has been able to operate so far because of grants from the Boston Foundation, Gillette Co. and the Hearst Foundation, according to Frost. But to spread beyond Lynn and Dorchester, the group needs state funding.
“We can’t continue to expand until we get funded,” said Frost.
‘Struggling’ Families
Housing advocates also want the state provide an additional $10 million for the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program, a $26 million program that 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.
While the voucher program is authorized to serve 7,500 households, only about 4,715 households receive vouchers because of budget cuts. Tenants who utilize the voucher program have a gross annual income of $10,273 or $853 a month, according to information from the Department of Housing and Community Development.
With a $10 million increase, 1,200 new households would be able to receive vouchers, and affordable housing units would be preserved, according to Stephanie Brown, executive director of Homes for Families, a Boston-based organization focused on ending family homelessness.
Bolstering the voucher program also would help to preserve affordable housing units developed years ago that rely on the voucher to cover operating expenses, explained Brown. Without an increase in the vouchers, some owners won’t be able to maintain low-cost apartments.
Activists also want to preserve the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition Program, or RAFT, which provides up to $3,000 to low-income families to pay for moving costs, unpaid utility payments and back rent.
Funded at $5 million last year and $2 million in 2004, the program has helped more than 2,700 families that were homeless or at-risk of becoming homeless in the last two years, according to the coalition. Gov. Mitt Romney has proposed a $2 million cut to RAFT and wants to prohibit tenants of subsidized housing from using the program – a move opposed by advocates.
RAFT ran out of money within the first six months of the fiscal year. “There are so many poor families across the state [that] are struggling to afford rent,” said Brown.
Homes for Families also wants the state to increase funding for emergency shelters and other housing providers by 10 percent to cover spikes in heating, insurance and food costs, as well as other expenses. The increase would cost the state an additional $5.5 million, according to Brown.
And advocates for the homeless want families at 130 percent of the federal poverty level, which translates to $21,580 a year for a family of three, to continue to be eligible to stay in state-funded emergency shelters for families. The governor has proposed dropping the income cutoff to 100 percent of the poverty level, which is $16,600 annually for a family of three, according to Brown.
Currently, families living in shelters who start to exceed the income guideline can remain in shelters for six months, enabling them to save money to obtain permanent housing. But Romney wants to eliminate that six-month grace period.
