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Providers and legal advocates press lawmakers to restore presumptive shelter eligibility and extend stay limits
Summary
Witnesses told the committee that recent changes to Emergency Assistance (EA) have limited access to shelter, leaving families sleeping in cars or parks; H216 would reinstate presumptive eligibility, prohibit stay limits shorter than nine months, and require the Executive Office to use existing state records rather than deny families who lack documentation at intake.
Representatives of homelessness providers, legal-service organizations, and municipal coalitions urged the committee to advance House Bill 216 to repair what they described as a constricted emergency-shelter system.
Kelly Turley of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless and lawyers from Greater Boston Legal Services described operational consequences after recent…
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