President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2013 (FY 13) Budget Proposal includes a significant funding commitment to implement Opening Doors. This year’s Budget Proposal includes $4.7 billion for targeted homeless assistance funding, a 17% increase over the previously enacted Fiscal Year 2012 Budget.

Targeted Homeless Assistance Programs (Budget Authority in Millions of Dollars)

“The President’s Budget reflects our commitment to funding what works,” said USICH Executive Director Barbara Poppe. “Together we have demonstrated that increased investment combined with strong collaboration and improved targeting leads to reductions in homelessness.”

The President’s FY 13 Budget Proposal is the second budget developed by USICH member agencies since the release of Opening Doors and is a statement of the Administration’s commitment to preventing and ending homelessness as a national priority.

The 17% increase in targeted homeless assistance funding includes the following:

• Increased strategic investments to implement the HEARTH Act. $330 million increase for the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Homeless Assistance Grants, including $286 million for the second year of the revamped Emergency Solutions Grants.
• Continued expansion of supportive housing for our nation’s Veterans through HUD-VASH. An additional 10,000 HUD-VASH vouchers combined with health care and supportive services to help Veterans exit homelessness.
• Additional funding and focus on prevention and rapid re-housing. $200M expansion of the Department of Veterans Affairs Supportive Services for Veteran Families program – built on best practices developed across the country.
• New investments through the Affordable Care Act to leverage mainstream programs including Medicaid. Additional 5% increase in Department of Health and Human Services targeted homeless assistance programs.

“By continuing to invest in our Homeless Assistance Grants ($2.2 billion) and HUD-VASH ($75 million), we move toward realizing the vision of Opening Doors to finish the job of ending chronic and Veterans homelessness by 2015 and set a path to ending family and youth homelessness within the decade,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan.

-  President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2013 Budget

-  FY 13 Budget Homelessness Fact Sheet (html) or (pdf)

By Colleen Quinn
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, FEB. 13, 2012…….Armed with new state audit findings, several lawmakers are asking state budget writers to step in and help their communities cover the costs of busing homeless children to school – a figure that topped $11.3 million in fiscal year 2012.

The group of legislators wrote a letter to Gov. Deval Patrick, House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray requesting a mid-year budget bill to pay for the escalating transportation costs that impact school budgets in more than 200 cities and towns.

A report last week by Auditor Suzanne Bump, which described the transportation costs as an unfunded mandate, gives lawmakers ammunition to fight for funds, according to legislators from affected communities.

Bump’s report documented the burden placed on municipalities by the state’s participation in the federal McKinney-Vento program, which requires both the community hosting homeless students and the community where they last lived to share the cost of transportation and education. Bump called on the Patrick administration and the Legislature to pay for busing homeless children to school.

The auditor said she met with a group of school superintendents on the South Shore who “were all very excited that attention was being paid to what is a considerable burden for many of them, particularly in the city of Brockton where the cost is $285,000.”

“Every dollar that gets spent on transportation is a dollar that is taken away from classroom support,” she said.

According to the auditor’s report, 33 school districts will pay more than $100,000 this fiscal year. Boston, Springfield, Chicopee and Worcester have the highest costs in the state. Boston spent $761,000 and Worcester’s total topped $425,000.

Rep. Thomas Stanley (D-Waltham) said he has been trying to get the state to pay for busing homeless school children for years. Stanley initiated the letter to legislative leaders. Waltham has a number of homeless shelters, and hotels where the state puts up families, and last year spent more than $200,000 busing homeless children to school.

“I have tried to get money in the past to no avail. But I didn’t have a study like this to back me up,” he said, referring to the auditor’s report.

Lawmakers in affected communities said they want stress to budget writers contemplating funding for homeless programs that school districts are unfairly sharing the burden.

“I hope to demonstrate some support for funding the unfunded mandate and reimbursing cities and towns that were forced by the state to finance a state issue,” Stanley said. “Right now, a selected number of cities and towns are paying a lot more of the burden to transport homeless children to and from school.”

According to the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, the number of families in Emergency Assistance shelters increased by 230 percent between October 2005 and October 2010, and over 7,000 families sought emergency shelter assistance in fiscal 2011.

Stanley said lawmakers are sympathetic to the needs of homeless children living in temporary situations, but added “all I am saying is communities like Waltham should not have to bear the transportation costs for the rest of the state.”

The costs of transporting homeless students are “on the verge” of causing teacher layoffs, Stanley said.

Over the past two years, Waltham spent more than $200,000 busing homeless children to school. As of Jan. 25, there were 69 homeless school-aged children living in various hotels in the city, and an additional 73 non-school aged kids, according to statistics compiled by the state Department of Housing and Community Development. School-aged children range in age from 5 to 18.

Rep. Theodore Speliotis (D-Danvers) said he and Stanley have had conversations with House Ways and Means Chairman Brian Dempsey to push for funding. A spokeswoman for Dempsey said he had not seen the letter yet.

“My position is as long as we have this policy, we ought to be treating the cities and towns as partners, not leaving them isolated to absorb all of this cost,” Speliotis said. “For the 33 communities that spend over $100,000, that is a couple of police officers or a couple of teachers being able to be retained or put on.”

Danvers School Superintendent Lisa Dana said her school district is greatly affected by the federal law, spending more than $100,000 this year to bus homeless children. The school district spends an additional $34,000 busing homeless children from the handful of hotels located along the Route 1 and Route 114 to schools in town.

“It is a cost that was unexpected,” Dana said.

Dana said school officials can never anticipate the number of homeless children who will need transportation. The number of school-aged homeless children living in hotels as of Jan. 25 totaled 77. Another 84 non-school aged children reside in Danvers hotels.

Rep. Stephen DiNatale, a Democrat from Fitchburg, called the lack of funding a “stranglehold” on school districts. Fitchburg schools spent $194,486 last year, and so far this year the figure totals $107,000, according to DiNatale.

“I don’t think it is being managed properly, and it is costing us precious dollars we can’t afford to expend,” he said.

Secretary Donovan recently issued a video message directed to Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) recipients and subrecipients, Continuums of Care (CoCs), and other organizations partnering with HUD to end homelessness.  In addition to highlighting your success in carrying out the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program (HPRP), he is calling on ESG recipients to:

1)      Invest an unprecedented percentage of your funding in rapid re-housing: We’ve learned from HPRP that rapid re-housing programs make the biggest impact on homelessness and should be given the highest priority under ESG.

2)      Collaborate with CoCs: Keep planning smarter.  Better coordination creates better results for homeless families and the American taxpayer.

3)      Focus on results and collecting quality data in the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS): This data is essential to measuring what works and what doesn’t.  Accurate HMIS data will also enable us to gain a more informed understanding of the problems of homelessness in our communities.

Watch Secretary Donovan’s message by clicking here or view the HD version.

Please join this effort led by the Mass. Coalition for the Homeless:

Please join us next Tuesday, February 14th for our “Have a Heart: Help End Unaccompanied Youth Homelessness” call-in day to the House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means (“House Ways and Means”)! We are asking you to take a few minutes on Valentine’s Day to call House Ways and Means to express your strong support for House Bill 3838: An Act Providing Housing and Support Services for Unaccompanied Homeless Youth.

As you know, the Coalition has been leading the advocacy efforts to pass House Bill 3838 (formerly House Bill 1862). If passed, this bill would provide funding for housing and services for unaccompanied youth who are experiencing homelessness and also would create a special commission to examine unaccompanied youth homelessness and make recommendations for actions to end youth homelessness. (We also are working to get the special commission language included in the upcoming fiscal year 2013 budget.) 

Over the past year, we have been working closely with the bill’s sponsors, Representative Jim O’Day and Representative Kay Khan, other key legislative allies such as Senator Katherine Clark and Senator Michael Rodrigues, members of the Administration, youth, providers, advocates, and other supporters to move the bill forward.

We are very excited that the bill was referred to House Ways and Means in December, and now are eager to do all we can so that the Committee can report out the bill favorably. You can help ensure that this happens by calling House Ways and Means at 617-722-2380 on Valentine’s Day to express your strong support for House Bill 3838!

A sample script is below. 

After making your call, please let us know that you participated in the action by sending us an email to kelly@mahomeless.orgor calling 781-595-7570 x17.

Thank you for your solidarity!

-Kelly
Kelly Turley
kelly@mahomeless.org
781-595-7570 x17

Below are minutes from our working group meeting of 2/8/12

Housing Sex Offenders Working Group – February 8, 2012

In attendance:  Nick Albano, Hampden County Sherrif’s Department, Carl Cignoni, Hampshire Sherriff’s Department, Steve Connor, Veterans Services, Joe Critelli, Hampden County Sherriff’s Department, Danielle DeBerry, ServiceNet, Ellie Harris, ServiceNet, Richard Hendrick, Eliot-CHS Homeless Services,  Hwei-Ling Greeney, Amherst Community Connections, Laurie Guidry, MASOC, Sgt. Anne McMahon, Northampton Police Dept., Marie McNeil, VA Central/Western MA, Kelly Przypek, Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, Robin Powell, Pamela Schwartz, network coordinator, Reikka Simula Gooden, Housing for All, Laurie Smith, ServiceNet                                                                                                                              

Debrief on 2/1 Summit:

Robin Powell: heard from Bill Toller of Diocese of Springfield:  “best training he had ever been to” – Laurie’s presentation phenomenal.  Looking forward to partnering.   Will invite Bill Toller to team.

Richard Hendrick:  looking forward to when landlords get to hear Laurie’s presentation directly – they are the people we need to reach.

Steve Connor:  At meeting in Boston and heard how excited people were about our region tackling this issue.  Feels it could be a model.

Hwei-Ling Greeney:  wished we gave more opportunity for faith leaders to speak and get their feedback on what they needed.  When look at Amherst town hall bulletin, sees pictures of 5 sex offenders.  When such a small number, why should faith leaders get involved?  What is our answer to that?

Laurie Guidry:   The pictures posted are only “Level 3’s.”  Issue is far broader.  And issue for faith leaders is both how to keep community safe and provide appropriate guidance to all sex offenders.

Discussion:  how we meet congregational needs to protect/screen/support while staying focused on this group’s ultimate goal of housing.

In response to concerns/questions raised at 2/1 meeting, Laurie, Joe Critelli (Hampden County Sherriff’s Dept.) and Joan Tabachnik of MASOC have agreed to work together  to provide guidance to clergy on questions to ask, e.g., what is your level, where do you live, etc.  We need to find a way to offer resources, to continue to get people invested, while staying focused on our mission.

Must start to explore options.  With all resources at the table, what are our short and long term goals to build housing options.

1.       Identify what is working, starting resources.

2.       Identify relationships we can cultivate.

Strive for small successes – good placement of a single tenant – then we create another resource.  At the same time, we look at longer term alternatives, e.g., grants, working with landlords.

Discussion of focus on affordable housing organizations, e.g., HAP, Home City Housing, Valley CDC, and their limits on housing sex offenders.  Must also consider HUD limits.

Agreed:  Laurie agreed to generate talking points, plus FAQ,  so we can all be on the same page as we’re in one-on-one outreach meetings.

Agreed:  Working group members will provide Pamela and Laurie their answers to the questions posed above:  what relationships do you have that are good starting points for further inroads (e.g., with landlords, realty associations); what are your starting resources.  Hwei-Ling also suggested we identify concrete gaps and barriers.  Pamela and Laurie will organize info to create draft action plan that we will submit back at our next meeting prior to our 3/14 Summit Part II to share with our larger community.  From 3/14, we will invite all attendees to participate in our working group (merge two efforts so we are meeting just monthly!).

On question of whether landlords should attend 3/14 meeting:  not quite yet. Agreed to videotape 3/14 meeting (with Fred Smith and Rosa Blair speaking) in service of landlord outreach later.

Also consider having our group serve as a referral resource for clergy searching for housing for members.  Discussed REACH meetings and the resource they could offer in that regard.  Will make time on next meeting agenda to focus on this piece.

Agreed:  our outreach for 3/14 will focus on getting those who attended to return.  Pamela will do one-on-one follow-up and everybody who recruited somebody there is asked to follow-up as well.

Next meeting:  March 6, 11:30, am, Northampton (DMH location to be confirmed)

Review of CHD draft of Network overview :  Thanks to Jane for facilitating and Yoshi for producing this first draft.    If community partners are our audience, then flow chart may want to focus on how partners would intersect with family.  Draft only addresses family homelessness, not individual – that is ok since very separate systems but need to be clear about agenda.  Consider two agendas:  (1) how do partners get connected; (2) educating Leadership Council and others about how the system works.

Discussed role of this committee in relation to this effort.  Community engagement committee could be lens for review.  Then make available to all practitioners and leadership council.

Jane will bring it back to Yoshi for another round discussion.  Thank you, Jane!!

CHAPA legislative gathering:  Pamela informed the committee about CHAPA’s invitation to the Network to co-sponsor its legislative meeting of western Mass. legislators on March 12 at HAP.  The invitation also includes giving the Network a few minutes to discuss its own agenda ($1 million in network funding) and goals.  The committee unanimously agreed that this is a great opportunity for Network exposure and advocacy.  Pamela will follow-up regarding exact details and capacity to invite entire Leadership Council (we hope this will be the case).

Mayor participation on Leadership Council:

Pamela updated committee on mayor status following 1/25 Leadership Council meeting.  Definite yeses to from mayors/town manager to serve on Leadership Council:  Amherst, Chicopee, Easthampton, Greenfield, Northampton

Following-up: North Adams (call with mayor today), West Springfield (waiting to hear back), Westfield (CDGB staff is definitely on LC), Springfield, Pittsfield (will contact Berkshire contacts for update) .  Agreed will also follow-up with Agawam (which initially declined invitation to 1/25 meeting) after first round of follow-up and confirmations are complete.

Committee agreed that best focus on Network resources would be to follow-up on Mayor Bissonnette’s request to work with housing authorities.  Pamela will brainstorm with Gerry re: best approach (how regional to go) and will report back at next meeting.

No One Leaves Coalition:  Andrew suggested we discuss Network support of this exciting and effective anti-foreclosure effort in Springfield.  Committee agreed its goals are consistent with preventing homelessness and the Network could be a resource in educating others.  We agreed the first step is to get better informed about the project and felt that the July LC meeting would be a good place to do it (April being devoted to budget discussions, presumably).  We also agreed that it would be appropriate to give the mayors’ heads-up on this agenda item since the group engages in civil disobedience at times.  We should be informed of their perspective.

April Leadership Council Meeting:  Since budget season will be in full swing, we agreed our meeting agenda should focus on the Network’s role in budget advocacy.  Agreed to think through possible guest speaker (from CHAPA?).  Lynne will also contact the new DHCD undersecretary, Aaron Gornstein, and see if he would be interested in attending.

Next meeting:  It is regularly scheduled to be 3/5 at 9 am, however we agreed that we would take stock a week in advance to determine if we need to meet or can conduct our business via email until our regularly scheduled April meeting on 4/2 at 9 am (sufficiently in advance of our 4/26 LC meeting).

At a recent quarterly meeting of the network’s leadership council, mayors and other municipal officials from throughout the four western counties came together pursue their causes: preventing homelessness, getting people back into housing quickly and stabilizing the housing market so that units are available for people of all income levels.

Pamela Schwartz, director of the network, said the meeting demonstrated that such outreach can provide “maximum coordination of our message and our mission.”

“We walked away with commitments to participate on this at a regional level,” Schwartz said.

Among those who attended the Jan. 25 summit were David Narkewicz and Michael Tautznik, mayors of Northampton and Easthampton, Amherst Town Manager John Musante, and mayors Bill Martin of Greenfield and Alex Morse of Holyoke.

“We wanted to give new and returning mayors an opportunity to learn about the network’s housing-first mission, to invite them to join us and to offer our support in their efforts to end homelessness in their communities,” said Lynne Wallace, chairwoman of the leadership council.

Click here to read more.

Dear Friend:

The Western Massachusetts Network’s Committee on Housing Homeless Sex Offenders would like to invite you to join in a conversation regarding how best to preserve our public safety through stable, supportive housing for registered homeless sex offenders living in our communities.

 This committee is comprised of a coalition of human service, correctional, police and professional organizations in the Western Massachusetts area including:  the Sheriff’s Departments of Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin and Berkshire Counties, the Northampton Police Department, the Massachusetts Department of Corrections and Department of Mental Health, The Veterans Medical Center and Veterans Services Office, the Massachusetts Association for the Treatment of Sex Offenders, and emergency homeless shelters in the region.

The mission of this committee is to maximize the safety of the community by minimizing the potential for re-offense through the identification and development of stable, supportive housing options for registered sex offenders who are committed to an offense-free life.

Several months ago this Network committee set about educating itself regarding the complex issues associated with this homeless sub-group. We would now like to broaden our coalition to help develop an informed and rational response to the issue of homelessness among the registered sex offender population.  Please join us on:

Wednesday, February 1
10 am – 12 noon
College Church, 58 Pomeroy Terrace, Northampton

This gathering will bring together a broad cross-section of the community to share information about this population and to discuss housing alternatives for homeless sex offenders that would promote public safety and decrease the risk for re-offense.  Our greatest hope for progress is to build awareness and consensus that housing registered sex offenders makes our community far safer than having them remain homeless. The agenda will include:

1)      Introduction to the Issue: Fundamental Concerns and Considerations

2)      Models of Hope: Effective Responses to a Complex Issue

3)      Creating Opportunities: Exploring Possibilities

4)      The Road Forward…

Your participation and thoughts will be greatly welcomed.  Please RSVP to me at pschwartz77@gmail.com or 413-219-5658.

Pioneer Valley, January 26, 2012 – Springfield Partners for Community Action, Valley Opportunity Council and United Way of Pioneer Valley are joining forces as part of an annual effort to increase tax refunds and credits for low- income families and individuals. Together they will operate and fund several free community tax preparation programs and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites throughout the region.

The VITA program is focused on helping qualifying individuals and families receive free tax services and learn if they are eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) by properly preparing and filing their Federal tax return. SPCA is celebrating its 10th Anniversary for VITA tax preparation.  As part of this celebration they will hold an EITC Awareness Day on Friday, January 27, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. at their offices on 721 State Street.

“VITA is an outstanding program and we are excited to join Springfield Partners for this important program,” said Sylvia deHaas Phillips, Senior Vice President of United Way of Pioneer Valley.  “Increasing financial stability for families and individuals in our community is one of our priorities.”

VITA sites are an important way for low-income working families to learn about sound financial practices and access the. Each year, over $35 Million in Earned Income Tax Credit refunds are not brought into our area, because low-income residents don’t know they qualify or don’t know how to claim the credit. VITA program volunteers prepared approximately 3,000 tax returns, which generated more than $5 million in tax refunds for local residents last year.

For more information, a complete list of sites and contact information, please visit our website at www.uwpv.org. Information also available on attached flyer.