Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Housing Homelessness topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Municipal leaders and advocates urge Ways and Means to fund MRVP, HomeBASE and RAFT to avert more homelessness
Summary
City and town officials, housing advocates and tenants appealed to the committee to increase state investments in rental vouchers, eviction-prevention programs and bridge subsidies for older adults, warning that new caps in the emergency shelter system have left families exposed.
Municipal leaders, homelessness advocates and tenants told the Ways and Means committee that the FY26 budget should prioritize rental-voucher funding and prevention programs to avert a surge in family homelessness.
"Our school budgets are not the only pressures municipalities feel," said Bill Murphy, Framingham public-health director. "Without state investments in RAP, MRVP, and HomeBASE, our local systems will be overwhelmed."
Speakers asked the committee to increase the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP) allocation by $47 million (an estimate supporters say would add roughly 2,300 vouchers), and to fund a year-two statewide expansion of a pilot "bridge subsidy" that helps older adults remain housed while they await permanent vouchers. Advocates also called for larger HomeBASE and RAFT appropriations and for the removal of new caps and time limits imposed on emergency-assistance family shelter that, they said, are forcing some families to sleep outside while they wait for paperwork and housing search help.
"We could ask for another override this year, but people are already stretched too thin. We need more local aid from the state," Lunenburg Select Board chair Cesar Nuzzolo told the committee. Several towns and multi-town regional districts reported that local overrides and higher property levies are being used simply to cover school costs, leaving less for municipal safety-net services.
Why this matters: Advocates argued state investment in prevention and vouchers is cheaper and more effective than paying for repeated emergency care, hospitalizations, or court costs after eviction. They also flagged operational problems such as lengthy Section 8 wait lists and uneven access to shelter intake, which have exacerbated the crisis.
Ending: Witnesses urged the committee to include increases to MRVP, HomeBASE, RAFT and other prevention tools in FY26 and to consider non-budget steps such as enactment of a statewide bridge-subsidy program and stronger enforcement of fair-housing law.
