Budget Amendment ID: FY2024-S3-217

ECO 217

Improvements to Emergency Assistance for Children and Families

Mr. Gomez, Ms. Miranda, Messrs. Brady, Eldridge, Keenan and Lewis, Ms. Rausch and Messrs. Feeney and Collins moved that the proposed new text be amended in section 2, in item 7004-0101, by striking out the words “115 per cent” and inserting in place thereof the following:- “200 per cent”;

and in said item by striking out the words “200 per cent” and inserting in place thereof the following:-“285 per cent”;

and in said item by adding the following:- “provided further, that a family shall not be denied assistance under this section based wholly or in part on the amount of the family’s assets; provided, however, that any income generated by such assets may be treated as countable income; provided further, that there shall be established an ombudsperson unit within the executive office of housing and livable communities to liaise between families and two programs located within the executive office; 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 executive office 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 executive office 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; provided further, in order to promote privacy, dignity, and public health, that the executive office shall make every effort to provide each family placed in temporary shelter with their own room or rooms for sleeping, separated from other families by at least a door, and with the ability to control the lighting in their sleeping area;"