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By Laura Crimaldi
Boston Herald
February 15, 2009
Homeless advocates, citing the economic upheaval afflicting the state, want the Patrick administration to halt plans to impose more rigorous eligibility rules on families seeking emergency shelter.
The proposed rules, slated to take effect April 1, would require homeless families to work at least 30 hours weekly, save 30 percent of their net income, and put a three-month limit on shelter stays if the family earns more than 130 percent of the poverty level - $23,000 for a family of three.
Other proposals call for denying shelter for families who are homeless because they abandoned subsidized housing without "good cause" and terminating shelter for families who leave free housing for two or more nights without permission. Another measure would terminate shelter for families who turn down an offer for affordable housing without "good cause."
"At a time that we are looking at the highest number of people in need, it isn't the time to make changes that lessens people's ability to get into family shelter," said Robyn Frost, chief of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless.
The head of the Department of Transitional Assistance, which runs family shelters and authored the proposals, asserts the changes are needed to close a $3.4 million budget deficit and make the system more equitable as affordable housing options shrivel up in the face of skyrocketing demand.
"We have very, very limited resources for a growing population and we need to make sure we are using those as efficiently and as equitably as possible," said DTA Commissioner Julia E. Kehoe.
Changes to family shelter eligibility requirements can only be made if there is a budget deficit. Even without a state budget crisis, the family shelter system is in flux.
Last month, Gov. Deval Patrick filed a proposal to put the state Department of Housing and Community Development in charge of the family shelter system. This month, shelter providers were given performance-based contracts. The new pacts pay providers $2,500 upfront. The next $2,500 is paid in increments over 18 months after a family leaves shelter.
Kehoe said the proposed rules would save $520,000 from April 1 to June 30 and $11.2 million in Fiscal 2010. The proposal would also close a loophole that allowed shelter to people who lost public housing because they defrauded the system. It would also better prepare families for subsidized housing, which requires households to pay 30 of income for rent.
Kandice Garrigan, 24, a mother of two in family shelter in Worcester, said she could not comply with the changes because her telemarketing job is only 24 hours a week.
"I do work. I do try to fix my situation to make it better so I can get into housing," said Garrigan, who expects her wages to be cut from $10 to $9.50 an hour as her employer tries to avert layoffs. "People make it harder by not doing what they're supposed to be doing and now they are tightening regulations. It's going to make it harder for me."
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