7004-0108 HomeBASE

For a program of short-term housing assistance to help families eligible for temporary emergency shelter under item 7004-0101 in addressing obstacles to maintaining or securing housing; provided, that the assistance shall include not less than 12 months of housing stabilization and economic self-sufficiency case management services for each family receiving benefits under this item; provided further, that a family shall not receive more than $20,000 in a 24-month period from this item; provided further, that so long as they meet the requirements of their housing stabilization plan, a family that received household assistance under this item whose income increases shall not become ineligible for assistance due to exceeding the income limit for the first 12 months from the date their income initially increased; provided further, that a family shall not be deemed ineligible as a result of any single violation of a self-sufficiency plan; provided further, that the department of housing and community development shall take all steps necessary to enforce regulations to prevent abuse in the short-term housing transition program, including a wage match agreement with the department of revenue; provided further, that a family that was terminated from the program or did not make a good faith effort to follow its housing stabilization plan during the term of its assistance shall be ineligible for benefits under said item 7004-0101 and this item for 12 months from the last date the family received financial assistance under said item 7004-0101 and this item; provided further, that a family's housing stabilization plan shall adequately accommodate the ages and disabilities of the family members; provided further, that families receiving benefits under this program who are found ineligible for continuing benefits shall be eligible for aid pending a timely appeal under chapter 23B of the General Laws; provided further, that families who are denied assistance under this item may appeal that denial under said chapter 23B, including subsection (F) of section 30 of said chapter 23B and regulations adopted to implement said chapter 23B; provided further, that the department, as a condition of continued eligibility for assistance under this program, may require disclosure of social security numbers by all members of a family receiving assistance under this item for use in verification of income with other agencies, departments and executive offices; provided further, that if a family member fails to provide a social security number for use in verifying the family's income and eligibility, then the family shall no longer be eligible to receive benefits from this program; provided further, that the department shall administer this program through the following agencies, unless administering agencies are otherwise procured by the department: the Berkshire Housing Development Corporation; Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance, Inc.; Community Teamwork Inc.; the Housing Assistance Corporation; the Franklin County regional housing and redevelopment authority; Way Finders, Inc.; Metro Housing Boston; the Lynn housing authority and neighborhood development; the South Middlesex Opportunity Council, Inc.; NeighborWorks Housing Solutions; and RCAP Solutions, Inc.; provided further, that the department shall reallocate funding based on performance-based statistics from underperforming service providers to above average service providers in order to move as many families from hotels, motels or shelters into more sustainable housing; provided further, that the department shall use funds provided under this program for stabilization workers to focus efforts on housing retention and to link households to supports, including job training, education, job search and child care opportunities available, and may enter into agreements with other public and private agencies for the provision of such services; provided further, that a stabilization worker shall be assigned to each household; provided further, that funds shall be used to more rapidly transition families served by the program into temporary or permanent sustainable housing; provided further, that notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, not less than 90 days before promulgating or amending any regulation, administrative practice or policy that would alter eligibility for or the level of benefits under this program to less than the benefit level available on June 30, 2022, the department shall submit a report to the house and senate committees on ways and means and the clerks of the house of representatives and the senate setting forth the justification for such changes including, but not limited to, any determination by the secretary of housing and economic development that available appropriations will be insufficient to meet projected expenses; provided further, that the department shall submit quarterly reports to the house and senate committees on ways and means, which shall include, but not be limited to, the: (i) number of families served, including available demographic information, as well as the number of children served under this item broken down by age; (ii) type of assistance given; (iii) average, minimum and maximum cost per family of said assistance; and (iv) total number of families receiving benefits under item 7004-0101 that have received assistance under item 7004-0108 during the previous 1, 2 and 3 years, including available demographic information; provided further, that the department shall expend funds under item 7004-0108 on families residing in temporary emergency shelters and family residential treatment or sober living programs under items 4512-0200 and 4513-1130 if said families otherwise meet all eligibility requirements applicable to emergency shelter under item 7004-0101, except that, solely for the purposes of this item, the fact that a family is residing in a temporary emergency domestic violence shelter under item 4513-1130 or in a family residential treatment or sober living program under item 4512-0200 shall not preclude said family from receiving assistance; provided further, that this item shall be subject to appropriation and, in the event of a deficiency, nothing in this item shall give rise to, or shall be construed as giving rise to, any enforceable right or entitlement to services in excess of the amounts appropriated in this item; and provided further, that household assistance funds shall be advanced to the administering agencies at the end of each month and before the next month's disbursement, the amount of which shall be estimated based on the prior month's expenditure with a reconciliation not less than annually