Family Shelter Moves from DTA To DHCD
Some of the information below was e-mailed to the department on July 1, 2009.
Important changes are underway in the state's shelter and homelessness prevention services for families (those with children).
On July 1, 2009, the Department of Housing and Community Development will take over the administration of shelter and homelessness prevention services from DTA. While families will still apply for EA (Emergency Assistance, i.e., Family) shelter at DTA offices after July 1st, it now will be a DHCD worker who will take and make a decision on their shelter applications. However, not every DTA office will have a DHCD homeless coordinator on site. The DTA offices in which a DHCD worker will not regularly be stationed include Southbridge, Fitchburg, Milford, Plymouth, Fall River, Pittsfield, and North Adams. In these offices, when a family arrives to apply for shelter, a DHCD "floater" from another office will be called by DTA staff.
Homeless families will now have their shelter cases, and their cash assistance/food stamp (SNAP) cases handled by two different agencies (DTA for benefits and DHCD for shelter) and two different workers.
The newly created DHCD Division of Housing Stabilization, will be under the direction of Bob Pulster (who previously was the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness).
As part of this transition, many DTA employees will transfer to DHCD to staff the Division of Housing Stabilization and the EA program. This includes 31 case managers, 6 field supervisors, and 2 field managers, as well as DTA central office staff who work on housing and homelessness issues. The field staff will be assigned to one of five regionally based teams: Boston, North of Boston (MetroNorth, North Shore, and Merrimack Valley), MetroWest/Central Massachusetts, South Shore/Cape, and Western Massachusetts. The list of DHCD Homeless Coordinator Assignments is available in this document: http://tinyurl.com/dhcd-ea-staffing.
Advocating with DHCD
DHCD must implement DTA’s rules and regulations governing EA, so families are entitled to (among other rights):
- Apply for EA
- Have their application acted upon in a timely manner
- Be placed in shelter for up to 30 days pending DHCD’s receipt of requested verifications, if the family appears to be eligible
- Receive a decision on their application in writing
- Appeal any negative action taken by the Department
- Receive reasonable accommodations and interpreter services if needed
If a family or an advocate needs to address a problem arising during the EA application process or after placement, they first should contact the homeless coordinator. If that person is not available, the next person to contact would be the supervisor, followed by the office director (in Boston only) or the regional director/Assistant Director for Field Operations. (Harriette Prescott, who currently is the Director of Boston Family Housing, will be the Assistant Director for Field Operations overseeing Boston and the North Shore. Elizabeth Arundel-Nuñez, who currently is the manager of Program Development and Implementation within DTA’s Housing and Homelessness Unit, will be the Assistant Director for Field Operations overseeing Central Massachusetts, Western Massachusetts, and the South Shore/Cape.) If the problem cannot be solved at any of those levels, Division of Housing Stabilization leadership may be called in to help ameliorate the situation. DHCD’s toll-free number for the Division of Housing Stabilization is 1-877-418-3308. An organizational chart for the Division of Housing Stabilization is available here: http://tinyurl.com/dhcd-ea-staffing
New Income Eligibility
Income eligibility guidelines are also changing. Families who apply for EA on or after July 1 st will be subject to the lowered income eligibility limit of 115% of the federal poverty guidelines, down from 130% of the federal poverty guidelines. (For a family of three, this is $1,755/month, as compared to the current limit of $1,984/month. The full chart comparing the current and new income eligibility limits is available here: http://tinyurl.com/new-ea-limits) Families who were approved for EA before July 1 st will be “grandfathered” in, and subject to the 130% limit.
-From: “ Transfer of Shelter and Prevention Services to DHCD July 1st.”, Mass. Coalition for the Homeless, July 01, 2009, http://www.mahomeless.org/advocacy/Reorganization%20Shelter%20Services/Reorganizationofshelterservices.html and http://www.mahomeless.org/advocacy/Reorganization%20Shelter%20Services/eatransitioninformationfor7-09.doc, retrieved 7/16/09.
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