Other social service impacts
of Governor’s 9C cuts
Under his so-called "9C" powers, the Governor has the authority to make cuts to Executive Branch departments and programs.
- Shannon Grants, which help fund youth violence prevention programs, saw a significant cut, on top of other cuts over the past few months. The program was funded at $13 million last year and was cut in half for this year. In this round of cuts Governor Patrick sliced another $2 million , bringing the program’s funding to $4.5 million.
- Subsidized housing and homelessness prevention - Outside Section 24 of the supplemental budget filed along with the Governor's 9C cuts, transfers $2.9 million from the RAFT(homelessness prevention funds)account into the MRVP (rental vouchers) program to address an FY'10 under funding of the MRVP account. While this action will address the desperate need for money to save the tenancies of nearly 800 low income MRVP recipients, it will leave only $160,000 in the RAFT account to help low income families and disabled adults to avoid homelessness. The language transferring RAFT money to the MRVP program is included in the Governor's supplemental budget which the Legislature will need to act on before it can take effect.
The Administration has stated that the millions of dollars in Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing (HPRP) funding provided through the federal stimulus package will help to address the needs of families who would have been helped by RAFT. However, there are many at-risk households who will not be eligible for HPRP assistance based on where they live (HPRP is only available to residents of certain towns or cities) or because they do not meet other eligibility criteria established by their regional or local entities for distributing the money.
- Housing Advocacy and Education - The Governor cut $128,321 from the account which funds the statewide network of Housing Consumer Education Centers. This represents a 7.9% cut in funding for the HCECs.
- From: “ A Look at the Governor's 9C Cuts: How Homelessness, Housing, and Benefit Programs Fared”, Mass. Coalition for the Homeless, October 30, 2009 and “Patrick to end nearly 1,000 jobs: Cuts would hit all of government; reduction plan spares local aid” By Matt Viser, The Boston Globe, October 30, 2009, http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/10/30/patrick_to_end_nearly_1000_jobs/ retrieved 11/2/09.
11/09