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