Amendment #486 to H4000

Improvements to Emergency Assistance for Children and Families

Ms. Decker of Cambridge moves to amend the bill in section 2, in item 7004-0101, inserting after the phrase “personnel or administrative costs;” the following:

“provided further, that for purposes of this line item, “request” shall mean any point at which any household seeking services under this line item or under line item 7004-0108 provides any information to the department as part of any screening, triage, or eligibility determination, regardless of whether a formal application is completed and regardless of whether the contact is by telephone, office visit, or other means;”

And by striking the following:

“provided further, that not later than February 3, 2022 the department shall provide to the senate and house committees on ways and means a report of the most recently available monthly data on: (I) applications for services provided for in this item and in item 7004-0108; (II) front-door entries into the emergency assistance system, with data on the race and ethnicity of all families approved for services; (III) applications for services provided in this item and in item 7004-0108 that are denied, the bases of all such denials and data on the race and ethnicity of all families denied; (IV) applications for services provided for in this item and in item 7004-0108 that do not result in a formal denial, a front-door entry into the emergency assistance system or verified diversion as a result of HomeBASE household assistance, including available demographic information; (V) the number of households submitting multiple applications for services provided for in this item and in item 7004-0108 within the previous 1-month period and within the previous 6-month period; (VI) diversions as a result of HomeBASE household assistance; (VII) exits through at-fault Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Recommendations 114 termination; (VIII) exits because the household is no longer income eligible; (IX) exits through HomeBASE household assistance; (X) exits to another subsidized housing program; and (XI) the number of applications that do not result in the household entering emergency assistance shelter within 48 hours and for which such non-entry is attributable to each of the following: written denial, pending documentation or verifications, no imminent homelessness and household withdrew the application; provided further, that the department shall report quarterly to the house and senate committees on ways and means detailing: (a) the number of families transitioned from shelter benefits to affordable, subsidized or otherwise assisted housing through this program; (b) the average, minimum and maximum cost per family of such assistance; (c) the number of families served who required further assistance at a later date; (d) the type of assistance later required and provided; (e) the total number of families receiving benefits under 7004-0101 that have received assistance under 7004-1018 during the previous 3 years; (f) the number of children served broken down by age; (g) the number of applications from households that became homeless within 12 months of depleting their HomeBASE assistance under item 7004-0108; (h) the reasons for homelessness in the applications received under clause (g); and (i) the number of applications received under said clause (g) that are denied; provided further, that the report shall also include the following information from the department of children and families: (i) the number of families assessed in the previous quarter; (ii) the number of families determined to be at a substantial health and safety risk; (iii) the number of families receiving multiple health and safety assessments within the previous 6- month period; and (iv) the standards used to determine a substantial health and safety risk; provided further, that the department shall report quarterly to the house and senate committees on ways and means on: (A) the number of families that applied for a transfer from their current shelter placement to a unit that can accommodate their disability-related needs, delineated by reason for the application; (B) the number of families whose applications for reasonable accommodation have been approved but that are waiting for transfer due to lack of available units able to accommodate their disability-related needs, delineated by category of accommodation, including, but not limited to, access to cooking facilities, first-floor or elevator access, non-carpeted unit, physical modification to unit, scattered site unit, geographic proximity to service providers and wheelchair accessibility; (C) the number of families currently in shelter units located more than 20 miles away from their home community; (D) the number of families with at least 1 child who attends a school other than the child’s school of origin as a result of placement in a shelter unit outside of their home community; and (E) both the average number of days and the maximum number of days that families spend in placements under the circumstances described in clauses (B) to (D), inclusive, before being transferred to a shelter unit for which none of the circumstances in said clauses (B) to (D), inclusive, apply;”

and replacing it with the following:

“provided further, that not later than February 3, 2022 and monthly thereafter, the department shall submit to the house and senate committees on ways and means a report of the most recently available monthly data on: (A) requests for services provided for in this item and in item 7004-0108; (B) front-door entries into the emergency assistance system, with data on the race and ethnicity of all families approved for services; (C) denials of requests for services provided in this item and in item 7004-0108, with the bases of all such denials, and data on the race and ethnicity of all families denied; (D) requests for services provided for in this item and in item 7004-0108 that do not result in a formal denial, a front-door entry into the emergency assistance system, or verified diversions as a result of HomeBASE household assistance, with data on the race and ethnicity of all families not receiving services or otherwise turned away; (E) front-door entries into the emergency assistance system for families who have already stayed in a place not meant for human habitation; (F) front-door entries into the emergency assistance system for families who have already stayed in a place not meant for human habitation after having requested services provided for in this item within the preceding six months; (G) diversions as a result of HomeBASE household assistance; (H) exits through at-fault termination; (I) exits because the household is no longer income eligible; (J) exits through HomeBASE household assistance; (K) exits to another subsidized housing program; (L) exits because the household has transitioned from shelter benefits to affordable, subsidized or other assisted housing; (M) the average, minimum and maximum cost per family of such assistance; (N) the number of families served who previously received services under this line item and under line item 7004-0108; (O) the type of assistance later required provided; (P) the total number of families newly requesting benefits under 7004-0101 that have received benefits under 7004-0108 during each of the preceding three years; (Q) the number of children served broken down by age; (R) the number of requests for emergency assistance shelter from households within 12 months of depleting their HomeBASE assistance under item 7004-0108; (S) the reasons for homelessness in the requests received related to clause (R); (T) the number of requests received related to said clause (R) that do not result in the family entering emergency assistance shelter within 48 hours; (U) the total number of requests that do not result in the household entering emergency assistance shelter within 48 hours; (V) the number of requests that do not result in the household entering emergency assistance shelter within 48 hours and for which such non-entry is attributable to each of the following: written denial, pending documentation or verifications, no imminent homelessness, or household withdrew request; (W) the numbers of households making multiple requests within the previous one-month period and within the previous six-month period; and (X) the standards used to determine a substantial health and safety risk; provided further, that the report shall also include the following information from the department of children and families: (1) the number of families assessed in the previous quarter; (2) the number of families determined to be at a substantial health and safety risk; (3) the number of families receiving multiple health and safety assessments within the previous 6-month period; and (4) the standards used to determine a substantial health and safety risk; provided further, that the department shall report quarterly to the house and senate committees on ways and means on: (a) the number of families that applied for a transfer from their current shelter placement to a unit that can accommodate their disability-related needs, delineated by reason for the application; (b) the number of families whose applications for reasonable accommodation have been approved but that are waiting for transfer due to lack of available units able to accommodate their disability-related needs, disaggregated by category of accommodation, including but not limited to the following: access to cooking facilities, first-floor or elevator access, non-carpeted unit, physical modification to unit, scattered site unit, geographic proximity to service providers, wheelchair accessibility, and other; (c) the number of families currently in shelter units located more than 20 miles away from their home community; (d) the number of families with at least one child who attends a school other than the child’s school of origin as a result of placement in a shelter unit outside of their home community; and (e) both the average number of days and the maximum number of days that families spend in placements under the circumstances described in clauses (b) to (d), inclusive, before being transferred to a shelter unit for which none of the circumstances in said clauses (b) to (d), inclusive, apply; provided further, that for each month for the duration of the state of emergency declared by the governor on March 10, 2020, the department shall submit to the house and senate committees on ways and means a monthly report of the most recently available monthly data on (i) the number of families in congregate or other shared shelter placements; and (ii) the number of families on extended leave from congregate or other shared shelter placements for purposes of social distancing, isolation, quarantine, or care of self or another family member related to COVID-19;

And inserting after the phrase “requiring reasonable accommodation” the following:

“provided further, that there shall be established an ombudsperson unit within the executive office of housing and economic development to liaise between families and two programs located within the department of housing and community development; provided further, that ombudsperson unit shall be directed towards the emergency assistance shelter program and related short-term housing transition programs as provided in Chapter 4 of the Acts of 2009 and Chapter 23, and any successor programs; provided further, that the ombudsperson shall mediate between any applicant or participant and the department of housing and community development when conflicts or misunderstandings arise; provided further, that the ombudsperson shall advocate for any applicant or participant when such applicant or participant requests such services in order to review a denial or termination of services; provided further, that for applicants, the ombudsperson shall advocate in instances including but not limited to extraneous document requests, inability to contact the department by telephone, delays in placement, and denials; provided further, that the ombudsperson unit shall have access to all initiated, partially completed, and completed applications in order to assess applicants’ and participants’ requests; provided further the ombudsperson shall have access to all submitted documentation as well as case information in the All Service Integrated System Tracker (ASIST) database and any successor database as well as shelter provider notes, department of children and families and domestic violence assessments, and sub-contracted provider notes; provided further, that the ombudsperson unit shall annually develop a report describing: (1) the number of requests received in the preceding 12-month period; (2) the number of such requests that pertained to the emergency assistance program; (3) the number of such requests that pertained to the Massachusetts short-term housing transition program; (4) the number of such requests that pertained to issues arising during the application process; (5) the number of such requests that pertained to participants’ experiences at any time after initial entry into the program in question, broken down by program;  or issues that result as part of programmatic participation; (6) the nature of all such requests; (7) the resolution of all such requests; (8) the race and ethnicity of each requestor; and (9) the length of time to resolve requests for each program and identifies whether the request involved application issues or program participation issues; provided further, that this report shall be filed with the Clerks of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and shall be filed with the Joint Committee on Housing and the House and Senate Committees on Ways and Means, on or before the first of February of each year; provided further, that not more than twelve months after establishing the ombudsperson unit, and annually thereafter, the joint committee on ways and means and the joint committee on housing shall hold an oversight hearing to investigate, analyze and discuss the data collected and the efficacy of the ombudsperson unit in resolving requests.”

Additional co-sponsor(s) added to Amendment #486 to H4000

Improvements to Emergency Assistance for Children and Families