Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed a supplemental state budget for fiscal year 2022 (FY22) making available an additional $100 million for emergency rental assistance (ERA) and extending protections for tenants who have pending applications for assistance through March 31, 2023. While these actions will help stave off evictions for some households, Massachusetts is quickly running out of ERA funding and stopped accepting new applications for federal ERA on April 15. As eviction filings rise across the state, advocates are continuing to push for additional resources and long-term policies to keep renters stably housed.
Massachusetts was allocated almost $750 million in federal ERA funds, including $436,458,910 in ERA1 and $357,864,927 in ERA2. According to NLIHC’s ERA Spending Tracking, Massachusetts had obligated or spent 100% of its ERA1 funds and 36.8% of its ERA2 funds as of April 26. Program administrators estimate that the state will run out of funds as early as June and for this reason have stopped accepting new applications.
However, the state’s Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT) program is still accepting applications. RAFT was one of the few statewide emergency rental assistance programs in place before the pandemic. It provides one-time funding for rent and other housing costs to low-income Massachusetts households who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. In July 2021, Governor Baker vetoed a line item in the FY22 budget to increase funds for RAFT, arguing it was not needed (see Memo 9/7/21). The state legislature overrode the veto, and, with the governor’s new supplemental FY22 budget, the total annual allocation for RAFT has reached a record $126.7 million. Despite this increase, housing advocates argue that, at the current spending rate of between $55 million and $70 million per month, RAFT will run out of funds in a matter of months, making necessary additional resources to assist tenants.
According to NLIHC’s Tenant Protections Database, an estimated 12% of all Massachusetts renters are behind on rent and only 24% of cost-burdened low income renters have been served by ERA, leaving many households at risk of eviction. While federal eviction protection measures kept many renters stably housed, once these measures were lifted, eviction filings across the state skyrocketed and were nearly twice as high in communities of color as they were in predominantly white communities. More specifically, eviction rates were higher in communities with predominately Black and Latino renters, households headed by single mothers, and neighborhoods with higher concentrations of corporate landlords. During the pandemic, Massachusetts passed several laws to pause eviction filings for renters with pending ERA applications, with the most recent one set to expire on May 1. With the enactment of the supplemental FY22 budget, this pause has been extended through March 31, 2023.
On April 13, the Massachusetts House Ways & Means Committee released its FY23 budget proposal, which emphasized the importance of investment in affordable housing, homelessness prevention, and community development programs. The proposal included $140 million for RAFT and increased overall housing funding by $841 million over the amount set aside in the FY22 budget, including:
- $150 million, along with $21.9 million in unspent funds from FY22, for the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP).
- $19.2 million, including $13.6 million and $5.6 million in unspent funds from FY22, for the Alternative Housing Voucher Program (AHVP).
- $92 million for public housing.
- $54.9 million for HomeBase, a housing program providing assistance to eligible homeless families, along with stabilization services to support those families once they secure housing.
The Massachusetts House finalized its budget proposal on April 27, including $140 million for RAFT. The budget proposal is now in the hands of the state’s Senate, which will take it up in May. Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA), an NLIHC state partner, is mobilizing advocates to support the increased funds for affordable housing and press the state legislature to make further adjustments to ensure these resources reach the lowest-income renters.
“The state budget will help us continue to recover from COVID, providing the emergency assistance that households need right now to stay stable in their homes, while also strengthening our long-term housing supports like rental assistance and public housing,” said Eric Shupin, director of public policy at Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association. “These investments will help lay the groundwork for true housing stability for thousands of residents and address the housing challenges we faced long before COVID.”
For more information about CHAPA and these advocacy efforts, please contact Eric Shupin at [email protected]