Budget Amendment ID: FY2023-S4-464

EHS 464

Improvements to Emergency Assistance for Children and Families

Messrs. Gomez and Eldridge, Ms. Comerford, Messrs. Moore and Brady, Ms. Jehlen, Ms. Gobi, Ms. Rausch, Ms. Lovely and Mr. O'Connor moved that the proposed new text be amended in section 2, in item 7004-0101, in line 3, by striking out the following: “115 per cent” and inserting in place thereof the following: “200 per cent”; and in said item in line 5, by striking out the following: “200 per cent” and inserting in place thereof the following: “285 per cent”; and in said item by adding to the end 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;” and in said item in line 41, by striking out the following: “provided further, that the department of housing and community development shall submit quarterly reports, broken down by month, to the house and senate committees on ways and means” and inserting in place thereof the following: “provided further, that on or before the final day of each month, the department of housing and community development shall submit to the house and senate committees on ways and means reports, which shall simultaneously be posted publicly on the department’s website”; and in said item in line 174, by striking out the following: “provided further, that the department shall submit quarterly reports, broken down by month, to the house and senate committees on ways and means with the most recently available monthly data” and inserting in place thereof the following: “provided further, that on or before the final day of each month, the department of housing and community development shall submit to the house and senate committees on ways and means, and shall simultaneously post on the department’s website, reports providing data from the prior month”; and in said item in line 251, by adding after the words “inclusive, apply” the words “, including families who are still awaiting transfer as of the last day of the reporting period”; and in said item in line 233, by adding after the words “currently staying in an emergency assistance shelter placement;” the following: “and (Q) the number of families transitioned from shelter benefits provided under this item to affordable, subsidized, or otherwise assisted housing”; and in said item in line 234, by striking out the following: “said quarterly reports” and inserting in place thereof the following: “said monthly reports”