The Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts of Massachusetts are partnering on a quick-turnaround sign-on letter to the Legislature urging them to immediately provide the supplemental funding needed to keep families safe and the doors to shelter open, while the state develops a more thorough response plan.
Please add your organization’s name to the letter here — by this Monday, October 30th at noon; please share the sign-on letter form with allied organizations.
The crux of the ask:
We write to ask you to urgently provide enough supplemental funding for the Emergency Assistance (EA) family shelter program to enable it to continue to serve all eligible families who are experiencing homelessness at least through January. This would give state leaders time to develop a more comprehensive, family-focused response that could be enacted when the Legislature returns from its winter recess…We are deeply, deeply troubled by the notion that the state may shut shelter doors to new applicants and place eligible families on a waiting list starting this week, on November 1st.
The Western Massachusetts Network to End Homelessness is a signer. Please see the letter and sign here. Thanks for your quick action!
