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Advocates urge lawmakers to expand RAFT and HomeBASE to prevent homelessness earlier
Summary
Providers, legal services and advocates told the Joint Committee on Housing that the RAFT rental assistance and HomeBASE rehousing programs must be codified, moved “upstream” so families can access help before eviction, and funded at higher levels to prevent shelter entries and repeat homelessness.
Rep. Rich Haggerty, House chair of the Joint Committee on Housing, opened the hybrid hearing that focused largely on homelessness prevention bills before the committee. Dozens of providers, attorneys and advocates testified that two existing state programs — Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT) and HomeBASE — must be redesigned so people can access help earlier in a housing crisis and with more flexible benefits.
Why it matters: Testimony at the hearing said Massachusetts has seen steep increases in family homelessness and shrinking shelter capacity, heightening the need for upstream prevention. Multiple witnesses asked the committee to place the programs into statute so rules do not shift year to year and to increase benefit limits so families exiting emergency settings can sustain housing.
Advocates asked the committee to remove RAFT’s “notice to quit” requirement that currently conditions…
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