FY’22 Senate Budget

Senate Ways and Means releases FY’22 Budget  

On May 11, 2021, Chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee Michael Rodrigues released the Senate’s proposed version of the State Budget for the fiscal year 2022. Find our full breakdown below!  

As a reminder, each year the Governor, the House Ways and Means Committee, and the Senate Ways and Means Committee put forward their own version of the budget for the following fiscal year. Following the announcement of the House and Senate Ways and Means Committees’ budget there is a short 2-3 day period during which amendments can be submitted. These amendments are often requests for specific changes in the language of the budget and/or are asking for an increase in funding for certain line items. These amendments are then reviewed privately by House and Senate leadership, who are largely responsible for determining whether or not these amendments are adopted. 

The following chart lays out the amendments that Homes for Families filed and supported for both the House and Senate budgets. Directly below we have provided a brief guide on understanding the acronyms you will find in the chart. 

FY’22 HFF Budget Requests: Fiscal Year 2022 Homes For Families Budget Requests 

HWM Amendments: House Ways and Means Amendments 

SWM Amendments: Senate Ways and Means Amendments 

EA: Emergency Assistance  

MRVP: Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program  

RAFT: Residential Assistance for Families in Transition  

HomeBASE: Massachusetts’ re-housing benefit  

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Similar to the House Budget, we at Homes for Families feel that the Senate budget misses the moment and underfunds key homelessness prevention programs. With economic inequalities exacerbated by the pandemic, now more than ever our State government must take an active role in helping those who need it most. We were particularly disappointed to see that funding for MRVP did not increase to the 160 million we were hoping for.

Below is a summary of the amendments that Homes for Families worked to support on the Senate side: 

• Amendment #804: Improves EA data collection. This includes reports on the race and ethnicity of families who have applied for services, were given/denied assistance, reasons for homelessness, the type of assistance required, and the number of days between the application submission and the approval. (Adopted)  

• Amendment #444: Increases MRVP funding to $160,000,000 from $129,981,667. (Rejected)  

• Amendment #835: Allows eligible families to receive the maximum amounts for both RAFT and HomeBASE, without a $10,000 combined sum restriction. This amendment allows eligible HomeBASE participants to receive housing assistance of up to $10,000 to prevent eviction or relocation, without needing to be evicted first. It also calls for improving data collection on race and ethnicity on families receiving assistance and those denied assistance. The budget was suggested to increase to $45,000,000. (Rejected)  

• Amendment #756: Extends the financial assistance provided by RAFT past the termination of the state of emergency concerning COVID-19. Up to $10,000 in rental, mortgage, and utilities assistance, in any 12-month period, will be extended to December 21, 2021. This is provided that financial assistance will not exceed $7000 from January 1, 2022 to June 30, 2022. (Adopted)  

The next step of the budget process – and the final step before it is sent to the Governor for a final signature – is the Conference Committee, during which selected members of the House and the Senate reconcile the differences between the two budgets. Homes for Families will be working to make sure that the best language from each budget is reflected in the final budget. We will be in touch in the coming weeks about how you can help with this effort!
 
Please email our Director of Policy Benjamin Daly at bdaly@homesforfamilies.org with any questions, comments, or concerns! 

House Ways and Means releases FY’22 Budget

The House Ways and Means Fiscal Year 2022 State Budget was released on Wednesday, April 14th, and we have a full report for you!

To recap, each year the Governor, House Ways and Means Committee, and Senate Ways and Means Committee propose a budget for the following fiscal year. After both the House and Senate Ways and Means Committees release their budgets, there is a short time during which amendments can be filed to alter certain line items and increase funding. These amendments are then considered by House and Senate Leadership respectively, who determine which amendments make it into the final budget. The House released their budget this past Wednesday, and we at HFF have been hard at work filing amendments and making sure we are fighting for increased funding for critical programs related to family homelessness before next Monday’s deadline. For the full breakdown of how the House budget is different from the Governor’s Budget, and the funding from prior years, see the table below:

Line Item	Program	FY’20 Funding	FY’21 Funding	FY’22 HFF Budget Requests	Governor’s FY’22 Proposal	House FY’22 Proposal
7004-9316	RAFT	21,000,000	54,700,000	55,000,000	25,970,612	22,000,000
7004-0101	EA	171,000,000	180,000,000	196,000,000	195,000,000	195,900,000
7004-9024	MRVP	116,000,000	135,000,000	160,000,000	122,645,860	128,400,000 plus 20 Million unspent in FY’21
7004-0108	HomeBASE	25,825,000	29,058,618	45,000,000	25,970,612	25,900,000

As you can see, the House Budget is pretty much on par with the Governor’s recommendations, which fall short of meeting the moment we are in and the level of funding that is necessary. Overall, we feel as if this Budget fails to meet the moment, but we are optimistic that through our legislative and budgetary advocacy, we can get to where we need to be. HFF is advocating for several amendments, and we need your help to make sure there are as many House co-sponsors as possible before Monday’s deadline, when amendments are either allowed into the budget or disregarded.

Home For Families Amendment Priorities:

Amendment #668: To increase MRVP funding and to ensure families with MRVP vouchers pay no more than 30% of income towards rent. HFF worked alongside CHAPA to write the language for and file this amendment with Representative Madaro. The amendment would raise MRVP funding to $160 million, reduce the rent burden for families from 40% of income to 30%, and add essential reporting requirements to the program.

Amendment #486: To improve data collection, equity, and access for the Emergency Assistance family shelter program and to create an ombudsperson, sponsored by Representative Decker. The amendment would provide language for vital data collection around families in EA as well as the HomeBASE program. The creation of an ombudsperson in the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development would serve as an advocate for EA and HomeBASE participants.  

Amendment #767: To improve access to IDs for people experiencing homelessness by eliminating the $25 fee and reducing the verification burden, sponsored by Representatives Khan and O’Day. This amendment would provide $75,000 for an initiative to provide standard MA IDs to individuals experiencing homelessness who lack valid MA IDs.

Amendment #447: To extend HomeBASE for families timing out of HomeBASE who would otherwise return to homelessness, and to improve data collection on HomeBASE participants, sponsored by Representative Barber. This amendment seeks to allow families participating in HomeBASE to continue receiving benefits if they are eligible and in good standing and otherwise at risk of experiencing homelessness again, as well as improving data collection on race and ethnicity.

WE NEED YOU TO TAKE ACTION by calling your State Representative and asking them to co-sponsor these amendments!

To look up your state Representative go here or here. 

SCRIPT:

“Hi, my name is _________________and I am calling/emailing from (_______city/town and shelter name if you want to share) to urge Representative___________________ to co-sponsor and advocate in support of the following key amendments in the House Ways and Means fiscal year 2022 state budget:

Amendment #668: To increase MRVP funding and to ensure families with MRVP vouchers pay no more than 30% of income towards rent. HFF worked alongside CHAPA to write the language for and file this amendment with Representative Madaro. The amendment would raise MRVP funding to $160 million, reduce the rent burden for families from 40% of income to 30%, and add essential reporting requirements to the program.

Amendment #486: To improve data collection, equity, and access for the Emergency Assistance family shelter program and to create an ombudsperson, sponsored by Representative Decker. The amendment would provide language for vital data collection around families in EA as well as the HomeBASE program. The creation of an ombudsperson in the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development would serve as an advocate for EA and HomeBASE participants.  

Amendment #767: To improve access to IDs for people experiencing homelessness by eliminating the $25 fee and reducing the verification burden, sponsored by Representatives Khan and O’Day. This amendment would provide $75,000 for an initiative to provide standard MA IDs to individuals experiencing homelessness who lack valid MA IDs.

Amendment #447: To extend HomeBASE for families timing out of HomeBASE who would otherwise return to homelessness, and to improve data collection on HomeBASE participants, sponsored by Representative Barber. This amendment seeks to allow families participating in HomeBASE to continue receiving benefits if they are eligible and in good standing and otherwise at risk of experiencing homelessness again, as well as improving data collection on race and ethnicity.

Please Email bdaly@homesforfamiles.org with any questions, comments, concerns!

Budget Update: Governor’s Proposed FY2022 State Budget

Governor Baker released his proposed FY2022 state budget last Wednesday, 1/27/2021, totalling $45.6 billion in gross spending. The budget is titled House 1.

You can find a PDF with all key budget documents here, including the Executive Summary, which highlights the Governor’s focus on “protecting core government services, providing significant support for local cities and towns, and encouraging economic growth and development without raising taxes on residents, while promoting a strong, equitable recovery from the COVID-19 public health emergency.” You can find the press release issued with the prosposed budget here, which highlights key sections of the budget in a format that is easier and quicker to read compared to the full budget document.

Of important note is the Governor’s continued committment to promoting “racial equality and opportunity.” His proposal includes over $30 million to support the recommendations of the Black Advisory Commission and the Latino Advisory Commission, which includes investments in teacher diversity, small business development, financial literacy, job placement programming, and workforce training.

Below is a preliminary analysis of key line items in the Governor’s House 1 Budget.

Emergency Shelter Assistance (7004-0101)
Funded at $195,885,750, increase of $11,100,000 over FY2021 budget of $184,785,750

• This investment maintains a total of 98 ADA-accessible units annually at an estimated cost of $5.2 million.
• This relatively small increase, coupled with the various unknowns related to the Procurement, is especially concerning for EA providers who are long-overdue for rate increases. This proposed budget is not enough to cover the cost of increasing rates for all providers, which is more critical now, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the many increased costs resulting from it, than ever before.

Analysis courtesy of MA Law Reform Institute

• Retains language intended to protect many families and children from first having to prove they slept in a place not meant for human habitation before they can be eligible for shelter. Advocates continue to push for clarification about how this new language will be implemented so that children must not first sleep in cars, emergency rooms, or other inappropriate places before they can access shelter.
• Continues to allow families to maintain eligibility for EA until they exceed 200% of the federal poverty guideline for 90 consecutive days.
• Adds language directing DHCD to attempt to convert scattered site units to congregate units, and to generally reduce the number of scattered site units.

HomeBASE (7004-0108)
Funded at $25,970,612, a decrease of $3,088,006 over FY2021 budget of $29,058,618

• To support projected costs for 3,000 households
• Maintains the maximum assistance level in a 12-month period at $10,000

Analysis courtesy of MA Coalition for the Homeless

• Maintained the one-year cap on HomeBASE benefits, which would mean that many families participating in the short-term transitional housing program would face evictions and a return to homelessness without alternative interventions and resources.

Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (7004-9024)
Funded at $135,000,000, the same as the FY2021 budget of $135,000,000

• To support an estimated 9,771 vouchers in FY22, an increase of 42% compared to FY15

Analysis courtesy of MA Coalition for the Homeless

• $122,645,860 in direct appropriations combined with additional funds from outside the operating budget. As the Governor said in budget press conference and in budget summary documents, total funding would be $135 million. Anticipate that the additional funds will be drawn from unspent MRVP funds from FY21.

Analysis courtesy of MA Law Reform Institute

• Continues the provision in previous budgets setting the MRVP income limits at 80% of area median (“low-income”) and allowing DHCD to target up to 75% of the vouchers to extremely low-income households with incomes of not more than 30% of area median. Maintains the current language requiring each household to pay at least 30%, but not more than 40%, of income for rent; however, House 1 allows households, at their option, to pay more than 40% of income for rent, provided that amount is not more than 40% of the household’s income in the first year of occupancy.
• The Governor’s budget again proposes to remove the requirement in the current and previous budgets that DHCD report to the Legislature on MRVP utilization, including the number and average value of rental vouchers distributed. House 1 omits the requirement in the current budget that DHCD must submit an annual report to the Secretary of Administration and Finance and the Legislature on the number of outstanding vouchers and the number of types of units leased.

It’s not too early to take action!
Voice your concerns to Governor Baker and provide feedback on his budget recommendations by phone at 1-888-870-7770 or by email.

For additional analysis on the above line items and more, here is Massachusetts Law Reform’s analysis, as well as, a chart of MA Coalition for the Homeless’ priorities and outcomes.

This is the first step in a long process of creating the FY2022 state budget. FY2022 begins July 1, 2021. Between now and then, there will be opportunities to advocate to the House, the Senate, and the Governor as we work to ensure that the collective voice of providers and families are heard! The next major step in the state budget process will be when the House Ways and Means budget is released, likely in mid-April. You can track the progress of the budget and read more about each step in the process here.

Please feel free to reach out with questions, additional intel, your take on the budget, or anything else!

Lauren Antonelli M.A.
Interim Director of Operations & Member Engagement

Early Education and Care Resources as Child Care Re-Opens

At Homes for Families’ June Community Meeting, representatives from the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care shared timely updates on the re-opening process of child care centers across the state.

There were some key resources shared including interactive trainings and webinar series available free online; as well as tools and resources for families and providers to use with children. Please see below for these resources that have received positive feedback from providers and came highly recommended by EEC! You can find EEC’s powerpoint here, and an infographic with more about Head Start in particular, a type of child care that all children experiencing homelessness are eligible for, here. In addition, the department is continually updating their Frequently Asked Questions around the re-opening process. You can find their most recent FAQs document here, including information regarding subsidies on pages 16 and 17. 

Supporting Children and Families Experiencing Homelessness
8 interactive modules

Supporting Families Experiencing Homelessness Webinar Series
three-part webinar series features exemplary practices

Five Ways to Protect Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers
Experiencing Homelessness During COVID-19 SchoolHouse
Connection (SHC) offers five strategies for young children

https://sesamestreetincommunities.org/topics/family-homelessne
ss/ videos, guides, printable activities

We would also like to share some resources on early education as it pertains to racial equity:

• A report from CLASP on addressing racial inequity in child care and early education policies
• A Resource List for talking with children about race, racism and racialized violence from the Center for Racial Justice in Education

We hope you find these resources helpful as we navigate what Massachusetts’ re-opening process looks like. For more resources and ongoing action opportunities, please stay connected with us via social media: Facebook & Twitter.

Liz and Team HFF

Thoughts, Tools and Resources for Promoting Racial and Immigrant Equity Amidst COVID-19

At our May Community meeting, Policy Action Team meeting, and Consumer Advocacy Team meeting we discussed COVID-19, equity, immigration and race. We learned a lot from a variety of different presenters, including MIRA coalition, HarborCOV and the Massachusetts Public Health Association (the lead agency behind the Equity Task Force on COVID-19). We are happy to share some of our key take-aways, along with resources and suggestions for providers!

Key Take Away #1: The virus is compounding existing inequalities in our society

Some examples from HarborCOV:

• Chelsea, a city with one of highest rates of COVID in Massachusetts, has a large working class, immigrant, and POC population. It is hard to practice social distancing because there is a lot of overcrowded housing. Moreover, these working folks are highly represented in social service jobs. They need to work to continue to feed their families and pay rent, and therefore have a higher chance of becoming infected. But unfortunately, many of these folks are cut out of benefits — they are ineligible for stimulus checks or unemployment, if they have not had a work permit for long enough.
• Decades of racist policing, prosecution, and sentencing have resulted in the gross over-incarceration of POC, particularly black men. Social distancing is impossible in jail, and these folks are often ignored for basic medical care, let alone COVID prevention measures. These injustices compound, so people who have already been over-policed are now over-punished with COVID exposure.
• Similarly, this administration has resisted offering medical care to people in immigration jails. Despite the government’s reluctance to test these folks, approximately 50% of ICE detainees who have been tested are positive for COVID. People in immigration jail often have no criminal charges or, by definition, have likely already served their criminal sentence. The government is unnecessarily punishing them with incarceration and COVID exposure.

Here, an HFF Consumer Advocacy Team member, who is a critical worker, describes some of the added challenges that essential workers are facing right now:“I still had to go to work but was scared to commute to work on the MBTA so I had been taking UBERs/Lyft’s. However, because many people aren’t working right now the ride share prices have gone up and they are not doing their pool option, which makes it expensive to go to work. Then, having to find some ne to watch my kids has also been a struggle because many people do not want people coming in and out of their houses during this time. I had to make the decision to stop working”

Key Take Away #2: Data plus priorities chosen through a racial equity lens are needed to address inequalities

There is important advocacy underway to urge Massachusetts policymakers to collect and report out on COVID-19 related data by race and other key categories (e.g. immigrant status, occupation status). Learn more and take action here! Meanwhile, we can improve our advocacy and services, if we also questions about unintended consequences and who benefits the most by our chosen policies and practices.

Here are some questions that might be used as a guide when deciding on policy and practice changes:

1. What are the racial impacts and who will be most impacted?
2. Who will benefit and who will be burdened; and have we considered unintended consequences?
3. How are affected community members engaged in this?
4. How can we monitor implementation?

Key Take Away #3: Opportunity to shift our frame on “essential workers”

Inspired by MIRA Coalition: This experience with COVID-19 has highlighted the variety of different essential workers in our communities and across our country. They are disproportionately immigrants, people of color, and people with lower-incomes. We need to come to understand and appreciate “essential workers” as essential and valuable not only in times of crisis, but all of the time.

Resources and Recommendations for Providers

From MIRA Coalition: We urge service providers to really think about the ways that they can be flexible in how they provide services to ensure they are inclusive.

• Some barriers to consider include participant’s lack of awareness of scope of services due to a language or cultural barrier.
• Understand immigrants can have fear of exposure. A provider can sit down to fill out an application and may not realize that if they are working with an immigrant family, disclosing a lot of this info can feel really risky.
• There can be general mistrust of authority that is well founded based on what immigrants have experienced in their home country but also what they have experienced here. It’s important to understand that privacy and secrecy can be a strategy that is adopted to keep safe and not necessarily an indication of whether they trust you as a service provider.

Some Resources on Immigrants, Public Charge, and COVID-19:

• Public Charge in the Time of COVID-19 (also available in Portuguese and Spanish)
• Public Charge overview
• COVID resource pages: www.miracoalition.org/coronavirus and in Spanish at www.miracoalition.org/coronavirus-es
• The MA Attorney General’s website: COVID Resources Available to Immigrants and Refugees and Multilingual COVID-19 Resources (on access to care and resources).

We hope you find these resources and insights useful in our ongoing collective work to learn, improve, and get to the root causes of inequities that many families experiencing homelessness are confronting.

In solidarity,

Liz and Team HFF

Homes For Families stands with Black Lives Matter

The horrific murder of George Floyd is incomprehensible. It’s an all too familiar tragic loss of a Black life that is consequential to the systemic racism ingrained in the fabric of our country. Perhaps most bothersome of the recent incidents was the action of Amy Cooper, the White woman who falsely made accusations against a Black man who was bird watching in Central Park. It was a display of racism in its most pernicious form. As a Black person, grief, frustration, and anger are real. And as the mother of a Black son, it’s unexplainable the fear and anxiety that grips my heart every day in the thought of losing him senselessly and prematurely. A quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. says, “ If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, and you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.” 

In this moment of darkness that our country finds itself, I’m yet encouraged by the resolute and courageous actions of the thousands of young Americans from all backgrounds and walks of life that have stood up in protest that we must do better as a nation. It is the commitment of Homes For Families to stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and take action to address ongoing public policies, institutional practices, and cultural narratives that perpetuate racial inequalities and constrain mobility for the homeless families we serve. Homes For Families will continue to lift the voices of families and boldly and courageously confront racist practices and policies that create systemic barriers for Black and ethnic minority groups.

Homes For Families is grateful and honored to join those who have committed to doing “the work” that needs to be done to move our nation forward.

Nicole Stewart
Chief Executive Officer
Homes For Families

Promoting Resilience and Self Care During The COVID-19 Crisis

In the need of some positive ideas for how to boost resilience for yourself, your staff and/or families you work with during these challenging times? Inspired by the domains of resilience diagram below, Homes for Families’ Policy Action Team shared some examples of how their family shelter agencies are building resilience.

HFF’s Policy Action Team-inspired examples for building resilience within the family shelter setting (these are examples from different family shelter providers and partner agencies, that are a part of our policy action team, many of which are descriptions of practices happening currently within family shelters):

• Creating an overall level of emotional flexibility within congregate (family shelter) settings where tensions tend to run high, even on a good day.
• Case managers are really trying to bring and provide some emotional space in their approach and in their actions, allowing families to feel the way that they feel, without any level of judgment and giving leeway around repercussions – recognizing everyone has these feelings, anxieties and it’s ok to feel the way.
• For staff and participants, finding ways for them to feel power within their own lives again. The whole situation makes people feel powerless, and when talking about survivors of Domestic Violence (DV), especially, who have already experienced so much loss of power, talking about what they want to do, planning ahead, looking forward to stuff, thinking of things to do in the house, and sometimes doing those things with them, all can help. This includes: safety planning around what if I get the virus.
• At our congregate shelter, we do a check in: in the morning and at night (optional of course and physical distancing is observed). We are in one big meeting space where folks can be spread apart and we create space for families to share what they hope will happen that day and how they are feeling on that day. At the end of day, they can reflect on how the day went and how they are feeling about the day now (it’s simple but provides a space for productive and kind interactions, amidst
  sometimes explosive, tough behavior under these circumstance).
• Especially for kids, the emotional piece is important: this is a huge change to what life looked like before, so to help them do activities where they can get out their energy but control their own bodies. So you can do high energy activity and then calm activity to follow. It helps them learn they can be safe in their space and gives them a chance to connect with grownups, while helping them learn how to regulate their own bodies, and navigate big feelings.
• Being able to have open conversations within an agency, across levels of staff (e.g. from mid or front line staff speaking to supervisors and CEOs) where staff express how they are feeling and can be honest about the challenges right now. One Policy Action Team member shared an example where one person finally opened up to leadership and said how much they were struggling. And eventually, it opened up to a lot of conversation. What hit the most was to hear our leadership tell us it is perfectly natural to re-define what “our best” is. Doing “our best” needed to be re-defined. “It was a really healing phrase. “
• For leadership to be caring for staff and make sure any group meeting, includes a self care piece, so staff know what can be provided.
• Supporting staff during this time, means putting in hazard pay (increased compensation) for staff on the front lines.
• Sending, via text or other virtual methods, simple notes of appreciation to families, to staff.
• Having extra compassion and flexibility with each other.

Homes for Families sees building resilience during this challenging time, as directly connected to promoting trauma informed care. As a partner at our April Community Meeting shared, promoting trauma informed care during this time can be as simple as having extra compassion and flexibility with each other.

We are grateful to be connected with all of you, the Homes for Families network of providers, families, advocates and partners. You hold a wealth of knowledge, insight, love and compassion that we hope to continue to draw out. We’ll be sharing ideas and practices we need in order to bring our best selves to the table for each other and families facing housing instability and homelessness at this time.

Liz and Team HFF

We’ve created a shareable pamphlet with these self-care and resiliency tips.

Find it here: HFF Promoting Self Care and Resiliency Tips.

 

Homes for Families and its Board of Directors has appointed Nicole Stewart as Chief Executive Officer

Nicole Stewart, Homes for Families Chief Executive Officer

On behalf of the Homes for Families Board of Directors,  it is with great excitement that we announce the appointment Nicole Stewart as the Chief Executive Officer of Homes for Families, effective today, April 20^th, 2020.

We are fortunate to have someone of Nicole Stewart’s caliber and experience join the HFF team.  We are at a critical moment in our nation’s history, and we are looking forward to her renewed leadership to successfully implement Homes for Families’ mission of uniting families impacted by homelessness, policy makers, and providers to address the root causes of family homelessness in Massachusetts.  Stewart most recently served as the Program Director for Bridge Home at St. Mary’s Center for Women and Children. Experienced in motivational team-building and staff development, she cultivated a reliable team and established programmatic systems, structures, and practices that significantly improved the quality of programming, care, and treatment for every child served.

A distinguished community leader, Stewart was selected to participate in Boston’s premier career leadership program, LeadBoston. She also served on Memorial Spaulding Elementary School Council and has facilitated multicultural and anti-racism classes for numerous community education programs.

Although her previous experience is very impressive – it is her versatility that caught the attention of the HFF Board of Directors. Throughout the interview process, we were struck by her acumen as a community leader demonstrated range of management experience and skills and passion for advocacy; that could not be more relevant or necessary to Homes for Families success in the years ahead.

Please join us in extending to Nicole the warmest of welcomes.   We are excited to have her on board.  We are looking forward to the future and have the highest confidence in Nicole and the rest of our outstanding Homes for Families team

Sincerely,

Homes for Families Board of Directors

2019 Membership Meeting

We are grateful for the providers from across the state who came together for our Annual Member Appreciation Lunch and Meeting this past December. A lot of incredible ideas were generated on discussion topics ranging from stabilization to family led peer-to-peer engagement, and landlords to domestic violence.

We also honored an inspiring leader: Sarah Bayer, a long time member of the HFF community and provider in the field who has lead in countless ways over the years and who continues to inspire, ground, and support us.

We collect data on what policies to focus on through direct feedback from providers and families. At Visioning Day in August we gather information on focus areas, and at the annual member meeting we have the opportunity to look more specifically at policies. A fun activity we do virtually every year at the annual meeting is to ask providers to vote on policy proposals. We will take what came out of visioning day, the annual member meeting, and ongoing family and provider input to drive our areas of collective advocacy. Here you can see the results of providers’ votes on policy proposals.

We also created opportunities to network, have open dialogue, and ground ourselves in the work from a trauma informed and anti-racist lens. We always aim to leave providers feeling a little more appreciated and inspired in the incredible work they do every day. One table activity generated a “collective poem” written by multiple providers speaking to why they entered this line of work. Here are a couple of the collective poems from the day:

“I entered this line of work because I care about children and families, because what I do matters to the families I am connected to, because I believe that housing is a human right.

I wake up every day to do this work because…

I believe policy change leads to real change in people’s lives

Policy change must be led by the people directly impacted by the issue

Policy change is an action”

 

“I entered this line of work because I care about children and families, because what I do matters to the families I am connected to, because I believe that housing is a human right.

I wake up every day to do this work because…

I imagine how it might be if I were in that situation and I didn’t know if anyone cared

A caring community nurtures and heals

and always looks out for those in need

Because love. Because dignity

Builds community

With Gratitude,

Liz and Team HFF

Meeting Scarcity with Abundance, in Community

Hunger and homelessness are interlinked and the experience of both can lead to higher risk of family separation, being held back at school, experiencing higher health risks such as asthma, and developmental delays. National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week is an annual program to bring attention to these important issues.

Across the Commonwealth over 90,000 children live in neighborhoods where over 30% of residents have incomes below the poverty line. This means a household of four is using their income of about $25,570 a year to pay for the cost of housing, utilities, food, childcare, transportation, and more. These basic necessities are often put in competition with one another, as housing prices continue to rise.

This year, Homes for Families will be participating in National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week during the week of November 16th to the 24th. We will be sharing important information on hunger and homelessness nationally and in the Commonwealth.

We are witness to the ways in which families experiencing housing instability and food scarcity meet these challenges with resourcefulness and resiliency, creating abundance in the face of scarcity. There are many examples of how family shelters, and community partners in Massachusetts do this with families as well. At our November Community Meeting we had a dialogue about just this and key themes emerged around the importance of autonomy, control and choice for families. Here are some of the examples of where scarcity in housing and food stability is met with abundance, followed by some opportunities to learn and improve when it comes to the family shelter setting.

Promoting Abundance in Community Done Well:

• Donations when aligned with what families want: E.G. Asking for size, need, and following up to ensure need is met
• Gift cards
• Gift cards for teens and tweens specifically – gives control and autonomy for families to choose
• Taking parent wishes, making it beautifully wrapped
• Case manager collecting from families what is wanted
• Asking families what food they want for the holidays and if they want to help prepare

Opportunities for Improvement/Lessons Learned:

• The way staff receives donations- make sure it is family-centric and empathetic
• Families to have increased involvement with which foods are available for greater cultural variety, for general variety in what is served- pantries to reach out to charities for support in meeting need for fresh foods, and a variety of foods.
• Understand the impact of staff having toys visible- families will ask about specific toys; the impact of when families know what other families have received
• Vetting sources of donations
• Working on effectively managing and getting gifts out: The process, being understaffed, having few vehicles. Where could vehicle/driving donations be made by services like Uber/Lyft?
• Giving throughout the year, and shelters using gifts as incentives.

Whether it’s through a communal meal, being surrounded by loved ones, or a warm welcome , when we find abundance through the support of community, so much more is possible.

-Team HFF