Please see this post below from CHAPA regarding the Governor’s vetoes. In addition to what is summarized below, the Governor vetoed the Network’s earmark for $125,000 as well as the Berkshire Regional Housing Authority earmark for $150,000.
I am in conversation with our legislators now and will update you about veto override advocacy very shortly.
Thanks to CHAPA for this update:
Yesterday, Governor Baker signed a $39.4 billion FY2018 budget. The Governor made $320 million worth of vetoes, including $222 million from MassHealth and $42 million in line-item reductions. For an overview on the funding vetoes for CHAPA’s affordable housing, homelessness prevention, and community development priorities, please click here.
The final FY2018 budget includes a $6.2 million increase for the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP) and $150,000 more to implement public housing reforms. Also, the Governor signed the budget authorizing the statewide expansion of Housing Court. This means that 2 million people in 84 cities and towns in Barnstable, Middlesex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Dukes, and Nantucket counties will now have access to a Housing Court.
Unfortunately, many of our other priorities faced budget and language vetoes, including:
- Alternative Housing Voucher Program (AHVP): $400,000 veto;
- Public Housing Operating Subsidy: $1.5 million veto;
- Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT): $2 million veto and elimination of expanded eligibility to allow the elderly, persons with disabilities, or unaccompanied homeless youths to access the program;
- HomeBASE: veto of language that prevents families from being ineligible for the program because of a violation of a self-sufficiency plan;
- Foreclosure Prevention Counseling: $800,000 veto, eliminating support for HCECs from the line-item;
- Housing Consumer Education Centers (HCECs): $180,000 veto from the line-item eliminating earmarks;
- Tenancy Preservation Program: $125,000 veto;
- Home & Healthy for Good: $40,000 veto;
- Unaccompanied Homeless Youth Housing & Services: $675,000 veto, which eliminates the program from the budget; and
- New Lease: $125,000 veto, which eliminates the program from the budget.
For a full analysis of all our budget priorities in the FY2018 budget signed by the Governor, click here.
As you know, these vetoes can be overridden by a 2/3rds vote by the House and Senate. We will be working with the Legislature to restore funding and language to the programs. I will keep you updated as the override process moves forward, including sharing any letters and materials that we send to the Legislature.
Also, in case you weren’t aware, Rep. Brian Dempsey, Chair of the House Ways & Means Committee, is resigning to join ML Strategies. Speaker DeLeo has appointed Rep. Jeffrey Sánchez, who represents Jamaica Plain and Brookline, as the new Ways & Means Chair.
Thank you and I look forward to being in touch soon to work together to override these vetoes.
Sincerely,
Eric Shupin
Director of Public Policy
