On April 16, the House Ways and Means Committee released its Fiscal Year 2026 budget. The news is mixed for our priorities:
On the plus side (relative to last fiscal year):
- Homeless Individuals Assistance: an increase of $5 million to $115.7 million
- Sponsor-based Permanent Supportive Housing: an increase of $3 million to $11.9 million
- Access to Counsel in evictions: an increase of $500,000 to $3 million and the removal of “pilot” from its budget language. This is good news for laying the groundwork for a permanent program.
The most notable minus for our region:
- Housing Consumer Education Centers – a cut of $3.7 million, down from $8.9 million to 5.2 million (and only $200,000 more than the Governor’s budget).
The budget included an increase in the MA Rental Voucher Program ($39m) but this increase will likely only pay for rent increases and no additional vouchers. The RAFT program received a $10 million increase but no policy change around accessing this prevention resource prior to a Notice to Quit.
For more detail, please see our state partners’ resources here: CHAPA; Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance; Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless
Legislators have until Friday afternoon to file amendments to the Committee’s budget proposal, with the full House slated to debate the FY2026 budget starting the week of April 28.
Stay tuned for action alerts on amendments early next week!
