HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 364        FILED ON: 1/10/2013

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 135

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

James J. O'Day and Katherine M. Clark

_________________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act providing housing and support services to unaccompanied homeless youth.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

Name:

District/Address:

Date Added:

James J. O'Day

14th Worcester

1/10/2013

Denise Provost

27th Middlesex

1/14/2013

James B. Eldridge

Middlesex and Worcester

1/30/2013

Linda Dorcena Forry

12th Suffolk

1/29/2013

Thomas P. Conroy

13th Middlesex

1/31/2013

Steven M. Walsh

11th Essex

2/1/2013

Ellen Story

3rd Hampshire

1/24/2013

William N. Brownsberger

Second Suffolk and Middlesex

1/16/2013

Gloria L. Fox

7th Suffolk

1/25/2013

Peter V. Kocot

1st Hampshire

1/21/2013

Stephen Kulik

1st Franklin

1/31/2013

Bradford Hill

4th Essex

1/18/2013

Jason M. Lewis

Fifth Middlesex

1/10/2013

Jennifer L. Flanagan

Worcester and Middlesex

1/25/2013

Benjamin Swan

11th Hampden

1/30/2013

Martin J. Walsh

13th Suffolk

1/17/2013

Katherine M. Clark

Fifth Middlesex

1/10/2013

Frank I. Smizik

15th Norfolk

1/10/2013

James J. Dwyer

30th Middlesex

1/10/2013

Carlos Henriquez

5th Suffolk

1/10/2013

Marjorie C. Decker

25th Middlesex

1/10/2013

Elizabeth A. Poirier

14th Bristol

1/10/2013

Carl M. Sciortino, Jr.

34th Middlesex

1/10/2013

Louis L. Kafka

8th Norfolk

1/10/2013

Sarah K. Peake

4th Barnstable

1/10/2013

Lori A. Ehrlich

8th Essex

1/10/2013

Martha M. Walz

8th Suffolk

1/10/2013

Harriette L. Chandler

First Worcester

1/10/2013

Kay Khan

11th Middlesex

1/10/2013

Tom Sannicandro

7th Middlesex

1/10/2013

Cheryl A. Coakley-Rivera

10th Hampden

1/10/2013

Paul R. Heroux

2nd Bristol

1/28/2013

Mary S. Keefe

15th Worcester

1/10/2013

Thomas M. Stanley

9th Middlesex

1/10/2013

Daniel A. Wolf

Cape and Islands

1/10/2013

Cory Atkins

14th Middlesex

1/10/2013

Brian R. Mannal

2nd Barnstable

1/10/2013

Danielle W. Gregoire

4th Middlesex

1/10/2013

Denise Andrews

2nd Franklin

1/10/2013

Kenneth J. Donnelly

Fourth Middlesex

1/10/2013

Paul Brodeur

32nd Middlesex

1/10/2013

John P. Fresolo

16th Worcester

1/10/2013

David M. Rogers

24th Middlesex

1/10/2013

Alan Silvia

7th Bristol

1/10/2013

Michael J. Barrett

Third Middlesex

1/10/2013

John W. Scibak

2nd Hampshire

1/10/2013

Sal N. DiDomenico

Middlesex and Suffolk

1/10/2013

Kenneth I. Gordon

21st Middlesex

1/10/2013

Patricia D. Jehlen

Second Middlesex

1/10/2013

John J. Binienda

17th Worcester

1/10/2013

Ann-Margaret Ferrante

5th Essex

1/10/2013

Elizabeth A. Malia

11th Suffolk

1/10/2013

Chris Walsh

6th Middlesex

1/10/2013

Michael O. Moore

Second Worcester

1/10/2013

Jay R. Kaufman

15th Middlesex

1/10/2013

John F. Keenan

Norfolk and Plymouth

1/10/2013

John J. Mahoney

13th Worcester

1/10/2013

Karen E. Spilka

Second Middlesex and Norfolk

1/10/2013

Carolyn C. Dykema

8th Middlesex

1/10/2013

Sean Garballey

23rd Middlesex

1/10/2013

James T. Welch

Hampden

1/10/2013

Joseph F. Wagner

8th Hampden

1/10/2013

Sonia Chang-Diaz

Second Suffolk

1/10/2013

Gale D. Candaras

First Hampden and Hampshire

1/10/2013

Timothy J. Toomey, Jr.

26th Middlesex

1/10/2013

Theodore C. Speliotis

13th Essex

1/10/2013


HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 364        FILED ON: 1/10/2013

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 135

By Representative O'Day of West Boylston and Senator Clark, a joint petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 135) of James J. O'Day and others relative to  housing and support services to unaccompanied homeless youth.  Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities.

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

_______________

In the Year Two Thousand Thirteen

_______________

 

An Act providing housing and support services to unaccompanied homeless youth.

 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

(1) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the Executive Office of Health and Human Services shall enter into performance-based contracts with organizations and agencies to provide housing and support services to address the needs of unaccompanied homeless youth. In entering into such contracts, the Executive Office of Health and Human Services shall take into consideration the recommendations of the special commission on unaccompanied youth homelessness on identifying, connecting, and serving unaccompanied youth in general, as well as unaccompanied youth under the age of 18 and youth who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, in particular. Programs funded under this Act shall provide a continuum of housing options for this population provided on a voluntary basis in conjunction with wraparound support services, which shall include but not be limited to: emergency shelter, “kinship” home placements, short term housing and “Transition to Independent Living” programs. The funded programs shall provide unaccompanied homeless youth with a stable out-of-home placement and help to reunite the youth with the youth’s parent or legal guardian if family reunification is in the youth's best interest, and help to create educational and residential stability. Additional support services funded through these contracts may include but are not limited to: individual, family and group counseling; access to medical, dental and mental health care; education and employment services; case management, advocacy and referral services; independent living skills training; and provision of basic needs.

(2) As used in this Act, "unaccompanied homeless youth" means a person 24 years of age or younger who is not in the physical custody or care of a parent or legal guardian and who lacks a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence. "Fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence" means a dwelling at which a person resides on a regular basis that adequately provides safe shelter, sufficient for meeting both the physical and psychological needs typically met in home environments. "Fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence" does not include a publicly or privately operated institutional shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations; transitional housing; a temporary placement with a peer, friend, or family member who has not offered a permanent residence, residential lease or temporary lodging for more than 30 days; or a public or private place not designed for, nor ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings. "Homeless youth" does not include a person incarcerated or otherwise detained under federal or state law.

(3) The Executive Office of Health and Human Services shall establish requirements and shall contract for programs that ensure that services, as specified by this Act, are provided to homeless youth in all urban, suburban and rural areas of the state in an appropriate and responsible manner. 

(4) The Executive Office of Health and Human Services shall monitor organizations receiving funds under this Act to ensure that appropriate and high-quality services are being delivered to homeless youth, shall collect common data and outcome measures from these organizations, and shall file reports with the Clerks of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the Joint Committee on Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities, the House and Senate Committees on Ways and Means and the Office of the Child Advocate by December 31 of each year regarding the data collected from the organizations and agencies, the incidence of youth homelessness in Massachusetts, and the status of and any change in housing, residential stability, educational stability and outcomes and well-being of homeless youth in the Commonwealth.