Massachusetts 2025-2026 Regular Session

Massachusetts House Bill H1552 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	1 of 1
2	2	HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 4203 FILED ON: 1/17/2025
3	3	HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1552
4	4	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
5	5	_________________
6	6	PRESENTED BY:
7	7	Rita A. Mendes
8	8	_________________
9	9	To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
10	10	Court assembled:
11	11	The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
12	12	An Act to create an interagency supportive housing finance and strategy board.
13	13	_______________
14	14	PETITION OF:
15	15	NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Rita A. Mendes11th Plymouth1/17/2025 1 of 5
16	16	HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 4203 FILED ON: 1/17/2025
17	17	HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1552
18	18	By Representative Mendes of Brockton, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 1552) of
19	19	Rita A. Mendes for legislation to create an interagency supportive housing finance and strategy
20	20	board. Housing.
21	21	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
22	22	_______________
23	23	In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
24	24	(2025-2026)
25	25	_______________
26	26	An Act to create an interagency supportive housing finance and strategy board.
27	27	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
28	28	of the same, as follows:
29	29	1 SECTION 1. (a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, there shall
30	30	2be established an interagency supportive housing finance and strategy board (the “Board”) for
31	31	3the purpose of scaling supportive housing options to end and prevent homelessness.
32	32	4 (a) The board shall consist of 18 members: the Lieutenant Governor, who shall serve as
33	33	5chair; 7 members appointed by the Governor; 1 from the Community Action Hub with lived
34	34	6experience of chronic or high acuity homelessness; 1 funder or group of funders of supportive
35	35	7housing; 1 healthcare representative; 1 member of the supportive housing pipeline coalition; 1
36	36	8representative of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance; 1 representative of the
37	37	9Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association; and 1 representative from the Massachusetts
38	38	10Association for Mental Health; the secretary of the executive office of health and human
39	39	11services, or their designee; the secretary of the executive office of housing and livable
40	40	12communities, or their designee; the secretary of the executive office of veterans services, or their 2 of 5
41	41	13designee; the commissioner of the department of children and families, or their designee; the
42	42	14secretary of the executive office of aging and independence, or their designee; the commissioner
43	43	15of the department of mental health, or their designee; ; the commissioner of the department of
44	44	16transitional assistance, or their designee; the secretary of the executive office of administration
45	45	17and finance, or their designee; the secretary of the executive office of labor and workforce
46	46	18development, or their designee; and the commissioner of the department of correction, or their
47	47	19designee.
48	48	20 (b) The board shall: (i) develop strategic and financial plans to guide the
49	49	21Commonwealth’s creation of a pipeline of supportive housing; (ii) identify opportunities to
50	50	22combine resources from the supportive housing pool fund, as established by chapter 121H of the
51	51	23acts of 2024, and state agencies; and (iii) issue joint requests for proposals for supportive housing
52	52	24to address chronic and high need homelessness in Massachusetts.
53	53	25 (c) All initial appointments shall be made by September 1, 2025. The chair must convene
54	54	26the first meeting by September 15, 2025. The executive office of housing and livable
55	55	27communities may provide the board with staff and administrative support, subject to
56	56	28appropriation.
57	57	29 SECTION 2. (a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, there shall
58	58	30be a supportive housing pilot program within the executive office of housing and livable
59	59	31communities. The pilot shall provide a minimum of 2,000 units of supportive housing to
60	60	32households, including individuals, families and young adults who are experiencing homelessness
61	61	33or at risk of homelessness. The executive office of housing and livable communities may use the
62	62	34supportive housing pool fund, established by chapter 150 of the acts of 2024, to implement the 3 of 5
63	63	35initiative through the interagency supportive housing finance and strategy board. The executive
64	64	36office of housing and livable communities shall set aside $1,000,000 annually in low- and
65	65	37moderate-income housing tax credits for use by the supportive housing pilots initiative.
66	66	38 (b) The supportive housing pilots initiative program shall include: (i) a statewide
67	67	39identification and prioritization process of households experiencing chronic homelessness or
68	68	40with complex needs that prevents them from maintaining housing independently and includes
69	69	41length of time homeless and service needs; (ii) regional coordination with local homelessness
70	70	42system Continuums of Care (CoCs) to align and match housing and services, including access
71	71	43options that are geographically equitable; (iii) homelessness system management staffing
72	72	44resources and infrastructure to sufficiently staff access and coordination; (iv) identification,
73	73	45prioritization, and creation of additional supportive housing resources dedicated for use by these
74	74	46households; (v) identification of Medicaid housing benefits and service options that can be
75	75	47leveraged for case management services and housing stability supports services; (vi)
76	76	48development of a statewide process to set aside child care subsidies and supports, behavioral
77	77	49health and other services for households served in the initiative.
78	78	50 SECTION 3. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the executive
79	79	51office of health and human services, the executive office of economic development, the
80	80	52executive office of elder affairs, the executive office of veterans’ services, the department of
81	81	53housing and livable communities, the department of transitional assistance, the department of
82	82	54developmental services, the department of mental health, the department of children and
83	83	55families, the department of youth services, the department of correction, the department of public
84	84	56health, the Massachusetts rehabilitation commission, the Massachusetts commission for the
85	85	57blind, the Massachusetts commission for the deaf and hard of hearing, the Massachusetts 4 of 5
86	86	58Housing Finance Agency, the Massachusetts housing partnership and the Community Economic
87	87	59Development Assistance Corporation shall develop and execute a memorandum of
88	88	60understanding to be known as the community housing and services memorandum of
89	89	61understanding. The memorandum of understanding shall include an action plan to coordinate the
90	90	62procurement and availability of community-based supportive services, capital subsidies and
91	91	63operating subsidies for new and existing housing available to residents with very low and
92	92	64extremely low-incomes, as those terms are defined by the United States Department of Housing
93	93	65and Urban Development in 24 C.F.R. § 5.603. The action plan shall establish benchmarks to
94	94	66assess financial savings to the commonwealth resulting from the avoidance of
95	95	67institutionalization, shelter or nursing care due to the availability of community-based housing
96	96	68supportive services. The memorandum of understanding shall identify and determine methods
97	97	69and procedures for eliminating barriers and reducing fragmentation for the provision of
98	98	70community-based supportive services and affordable housing. For the purposes of this act,
99	99	71“community-based supportive services” shall include, but not be limited to, resident service
100	100	72coordinators, housing support teams and other models to link very low and extremely low-
101	101	73income tenants with services necessary to maintain their tenancy or direct community-based
102	102	74social services, comprehensive institutional discharge planning services or other services
103	103	75necessary to maintain a successful tenancy; provided, that receipt of services by a tenant with a
104	104	76disability shall not be an eligibility requirement or a requirement of maintaining a tenancy under
105	105	77the action plan.
106	106	78 The community housing and services memorandum of understanding shall be filed
107	107	79annually, for a term of no less than 10 years, with the governor, the lieutenant governor, the joint
108	108	80committee on housing, the joint committee on elder affairs, the joint committee on children, 5 of 5
109	109	81families and persons with disabilities and the house and senate committees on ways and means
110	110	82not later than December 31, 202.
111	111	83 SECTION 4. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the executive
112	112	84office of health and human services and the executive office of housing and livable communities
113	113	85shall develop a plan for pairing medicaid housing benefits and community-based behavioral
114	114	86health services with supportive housing initiative units. The plan must be submitted to the
115	115	87interagency supportive housing finance and strategy board, established in section 1 of this act,
116	116	88and the clerks of the senate and of the house of representatives by July 1, 2025. Any federal
117	117	89reimbursement for these services during implementation of the initiative must be credited to the
118	118	90supportive housing fool fund.
119	119	91 SECTION 4. Section 2 of this act shall take effect on July 1, 2025.