SECTION 1. (a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, there shall be established an interagency supportive housing finance and strategy board (the “Board”) for the purpose of scaling supportive housing options to end and prevent homelessness.

(a) The board shall consist of 18 members: the Lieutenant Governor, who shall serve as chair; 7 members appointed by the Governor; 1 from the Community Action Hub with lived experience of chronic or high acuity homelessness; 1 funder or group of funders of supportive housing; 1 healthcare representative; 1 member of the supportive housing pipeline coalition; 1 representative of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance; 1 representative of the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association; and 1 representative from the Massachusetts Association for Mental Health; the secretary of the executive office of health and human services, or their designee; the secretary of the executive office of housing and livable communities, or their designee; the secretary of the executive office of veterans services, or their designee; the commissioner of the department of children and families, or their designee; the secretary of the executive office of aging and independence, or their designee; the commissioner of the department of mental health, or their designee; ; the commissioner of the department of transitional assistance, or their designee; the secretary of the executive office of administration and finance, or their designee; the secretary of the executive office of labor and workforce development, or their designee; and the commissioner of the department of correction, or their designee.

(b) The board shall: (i) develop strategic and financial plans to guide the Commonwealth’s creation of a pipeline of supportive housing; (ii) identify opportunities to combine resources from the supportive housing pool fund, as established by chapter 121H of the acts of 2024, and state agencies; and (iii) issue joint requests for proposals for supportive housing to address chronic and high need homelessness in Massachusetts.

(c) All initial appointments shall be made by September 1, 2025. The chair must convene the first meeting by September 15, 2025. The executive office of housing and livable communities may provide the board with staff and administrative support, subject to appropriation.

SECTION 2. (a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, there shall be a supportive housing pilot program within the executive office of housing and livable communities. The pilot shall provide a minimum of 2,000 units of supportive housing to households, including individuals, families and young adults who are experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness. The executive office of housing and livable communities may use the supportive housing pool fund, established by chapter 150 of the acts of 2024, to implement the initiative through the interagency supportive housing finance and strategy board. The executive office of housing and livable communities shall set aside $1,000,000 annually in low- and moderate-income housing tax credits for use by the supportive housing pilots initiative.

(b) The supportive housing pilots initiative program shall include: (i) a statewide identification and prioritization process of households experiencing chronic homelessness or with complex needs that prevents them from maintaining housing independently and includes length of time homeless and service needs; (ii) regional coordination with local homelessness system Continuums of Care (CoCs) to align and match housing and services, including access options that are geographically equitable; (iii) homelessness system management staffing resources and infrastructure to sufficiently staff access and coordination; (iv) identification, prioritization, and creation of additional supportive housing resources dedicated for use by these households; (v) identification of Medicaid housing benefits and service options that can be leveraged for case management services and housing stability supports services; (vi) development of a statewide process to set aside child care subsidies and supports, behavioral health and other services for households served in the initiative.

SECTION 3. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the executive office of health and human services, the executive office of economic development, the executive office of elder affairs, the executive office of veterans’ services, the department of housing and livable communities, the department of transitional assistance, the department of developmental services, the department of mental health, the department of children and families, the department of youth services, the department of correction, the department of public health, the Massachusetts rehabilitation commission, the Massachusetts commission for the blind, the Massachusetts commission for the deaf and hard of hearing, the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency, the Massachusetts housing partnership and the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation shall develop and execute a memorandum of understanding to be known as the community housing and services memorandum of understanding. The memorandum of understanding shall include an action plan to coordinate the procurement and availability of community-based supportive services, capital subsidies and operating subsidies for new and existing housing available to residents with very low and extremely low-incomes, as those terms are defined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development in 24 C.F.R. § 5.603. The action plan shall establish benchmarks to assess financial savings to the commonwealth resulting from the avoidance of institutionalization, shelter or nursing care due to the availability of community-based housing supportive services. The memorandum of understanding shall identify and determine methods and procedures for eliminating barriers and reducing fragmentation for the provision of community-based supportive services and affordable housing. For the purposes of this act, “community-based supportive services” shall include, but not be limited to, resident service coordinators, housing support teams and other models to link very low and extremely low-income tenants with services necessary to maintain their tenancy or direct community-based social services, comprehensive institutional discharge planning services or other services necessary to maintain a successful tenancy; provided, that receipt of services by a tenant with a disability shall not be an eligibility requirement or a requirement of maintaining a tenancy under the action plan.

The community housing and services memorandum of understanding shall be filed annually, for a term of no less than 10 years, with the governor, the lieutenant governor, the joint committee on housing, the joint committee on elder affairs, the joint committee on children, families and persons with disabilities and the house and senate committees on ways and means not later than December 31, 202.

SECTION 4. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the executive office of health and human services and the executive office of housing and livable communities shall develop a plan for pairing medicaid housing benefits and community-based behavioral health services with supportive housing initiative units. The plan must be submitted to the interagency supportive housing finance and strategy board, established in section 1 of this act, and the clerks of the senate and of the house of representatives by July 1, 2025. Any federal reimbursement for these services during implementation of the initiative must be credited to the supportive housing fool fund.

SECTION 4. Section 2 of this act shall take effect on July 1, 2025.