On Tuesday, July 23, Governor Healey and her Administration announced severe limitations on access to overflow shelters for children and families, while also detailing a new prioritization plan for children and families awaiting access to the Emergency Assistance (EA) family shelter program. Details of the proposal are available in the Administration’s press release here and on our blog post here.
Springfield No One Leaves, in partnership with Homes for All MA, MA Coalition for the Homeless, MA Law Reform Institute and other allied organizations (including the Network!) are organizing an action to urge the Governor and Legislature to uphold access to shelter for children and families:
Monday, July 29
11 am – 12 noon
in front of the Governor’s Western MA Office
436 Dwight Street
(simultaneous action in Boston at the State House)
If you have been impacted by family homelessness and would like to share your story, please reach out to Tim Benoit of Springfield No One Leaves at [email protected].
Please see this statement below by the MA Coalition for the Homeless:
We are shocked and saddened that families already deemed eligible for shelter who have proven that they have no other safe place to go will be forced to make the impossible choice between immediate safety for their children and the hope of coming off of the waiting list and swiftly accessing EA shelter. We expect that the families who will be most deeply harmed by this new policy will be families seeking shelter after being evicted for nonpayment of rent from a market-rate unit, newly arrived immigrant families who are resettling in Massachusetts, and others.
Let’s show up in force on Monday!
