Please find below the update from CHAPA on the housing related override votes. There is good news on a couple of priority items, especially the youth services program and the Tenancy Preservation Program. We are still working on overrides for Housing Consumer Education, RAFT, Berkshire Regional Housing Authority and the Network itself.
Please keep advocating!
From Eric Shupin, CHAPA Public Policy Director:
On September 13th, the Massachusetts House of Representatives voted to override $275 million in spending from the FY2018 state budget that Governor Baker vetoed in July. According to House Ways and Means Chair Jeffrey Sánchez, the House started with veto overrides for programs that have a statewide impact. Most of the funding restored to the budget included $220 million for MassHealth.
The House voted to restore funding to several of our affordable housing and homelessness prevention priorities. These include overrides for:
- Alternative Housing Voucher Program (AHVP): $400,000 veto
- Public Housing Operating Subsidy: $1.5 million veto
- Tenancy Preservation Program (TPP): $125,000 veto
- Housing Court Expansion: $250,000 veto
- Unaccompanied Homeless Youth Services: $625,000 veto
- New Lease for Homeless Families: $125,000
The House did not override vetoes for several other priorities, including Housing Consumer Education Centers (HCECs), Foreclosure & Housing Counseling, Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT), and Home and Healthy for Good. Chairman Sánchez said the House will continue to consider additional overrides in the coming weeks. The Senate must now vote on the overrides to restore funding.
Please continue to contact your legislators about taking up the overrides.
As a reminder, for a full list of CHAPA priorities impacted by the Governor’s vetoes, please click here.
Also, for your reference, to search for exactly which line-items were voted on by the House, you can visit the budget bill’s page and look for a line-item under “Bill History”.
