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MGH Community News |
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MGH Community News |
| November 2020 | Volume 24 • Issue 8 |
Highlights
Sections Social Service staff may direct resource questions to the Community Resource Center, Hannah Perry, 617-726-8182. Questions, comments about the newsletter? Contact Ellen Forman, 617-726-5807. |
12 Million to Lose Jobless Benefits the Day After Christmas Unless Congress Acts Funds for two CARES Act unemployment compensation programs, and unemployment payments to 314,300 Massachusetts residents, are set to expire the day after Christmas. Nationally, there are about 12 million recipients who would see their unemployment benefits end even as COVID-19 surges, according to a new report from the Century Council, a progressive Washington think tank. “A cutoff would create lasting harm to millions of families and the entire U.S. economy,” the report said. Its writers also chastised the press and public for focusing on a separate program, the $600-a-week added unemployment payment that expired in July. The report said as many as 40 million Americans — one in four workers — received a payment from one of the two CARES Act unemployment programs: Pandemic Unemployment Assistance for gig workers and others not eligible for regular benefits and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation for the long-term unemployed. Both programs expire Dec. 26. That is, unless Congress and the White House act first. U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, said Thursday he sees relief coming. Congress must pass some sort of spending bill - even if just another stopgap - by Dec. 11 in order to keep the federal government functioning. Neal, chairman of the powerful tax-writing House Committee on Ways and Means, said he prefers an omnibus spending bill that would cover the rest of the fiscal year, or until Sept. 30. In it, he wants to see a continuation of CARES Act programs. Neal was one of the authors of the $2.2 trillion CARES Act that became law back in March. Neal calls for pandemic unemployment assistance, another stimulus payment, money for hospitals, expanded job retention tax credits, and aid for state and local governments that have seen their tax revenues plummet in the pandemic. It’s a tall order given that the House-passed $3.4 trillion HEROES Act, coving much the same ground, has been bottled up by the Republican-controlled Senate since this summer. -See the full Mass Live article.
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MA Utilities Agree to Extend Winter Moratorium on Residential Shut-Offs Regardless of Financial Hardship In response to advocacy by Boston-based National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) and the Office of the Attorney General (AG), the state's investor-owned electric and gas utilities (Eversource, National Grid, etc.) agreed to extend the COVID-related moratorium on termination of residential service through April 1, 2021 (from the standard March 15) and regardless of a consumer’s financial hardship status. Prior to this most recent filing, only customers known to be low-income were protected to spring 2021. Separately, the AG filed a request with the DPU, supported by NCLC, to include private water companies as well. On November 18, the DPU formally responded to the companies' filing and ordered that the moratorium on residential terminations will continue to April 1: Until April 1, 2021 ... the [investor-owned] Companies shall not shut off gas, electric, or water service to any of their residential customers for failure to pay a bill or any portion of a bill the Companies issued to a customer. Prior to this announcement, between 10/22 and 11/3, Eversource sent shut-offs notices to about 11,000 residential customers who either did not have low-income, or they were unaware were low-income. Consumers can disregard those letters.In response to to NCLC advocacy, Eversource made automated calls to all of those 11,000 customers advising them that they will not be shut off. Municipal Utilities – Not Technically Covered, But Should Comply Note that while electricity, gas or water provided by a city or town is NOT included in this order, it has been the expectation of the DPU and AG that the municipal-owned utilities should comply. Advocates: if you learn of any instances of a muni proceeding with a shut-off before April 1, please let NCLC know immediately. Shut-Off Protection Does Not Erase Debt Please keep in mind and advise consumers that this moratorium only protects from shut-off. It does NOT erase the debt nor does it prevent utilities from seeking payment including sending the account to collections, taking consumers to court, etc. We advise consumers to apply for LIHEAP if eligible, and contact their utility to seek any additional assistance such as discount rates, arrearage forgiveness programs or payment or budget plans. - Adapted from Dep't of Public Utilities orders no electric, gas or water shut-offs through April 1, Charlie Harak, NCLC, November 19, 2020; MA electric & gas utilities agree to extend moratorium on shut-offs to April 1, 202, Charlie Harak, NCLC, November 16, 2020, and Eversource sends clarifying notice re: potential shut-offs: None!, Charlie Harak, NCLC, November 20, 2020.
Boston Office for Housing Stability Eviction Prevention Resources The Boston Office for Housing Stability offers a variety of services for tenants and landlords including housing search and rights & responsibilities workshops for landlords and tenants, housing crisis coordinators, housing court navigation and referrals to mediation. In response to the end of the state’s eviction moratorium the office is sending mail to 46,000+ households in high-risk eviction areas to explain their tenant rights, translating the CDC Moratorium Declaration Form into multiple languages (English, Español, Português, 中文, Français, Kriolu Kabuverdianu, Kreyòl ayisyen, Soomaali, русский, Tiếng Việt, or عربى), adding two attorneys for eviction defense and adding a housing court navigator. Boston Housing Stability Notification Act Mayor Walsh has signed the Housing Stability Notification Act. The Act requires property owners and constables serving a Notice to Quit and Notice of Lease Non-renewal to also provide tenants with a Notice of Tenants’ Rights and Resources. This document is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, French, Cape Verdean Creole, Haitian Creole, Somali, Russian, Vietnamese, or Arabic. Visit our landlord information page or our tenant information page for more details. If you’re at immediate risk of becoming homeless, call the Office of Housing Stability at 617-635-4200 (Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.). For help outside these hours, please contact BOS:311 (you can dial 3-1-1 or call 617-635-4500). Virtual Walk-In Hours Every Wednesday from 12 - 1 p.m., Office Housing Stability staff are available via Zoom to answer your housing questions. Complete the online form to RSVP for these walk-in hours. Prior to walk-in hours, registered attendees will receive a meeting link via email. Resources, Sources and For More Information
Federal Foreclosure Moratorium for Eligible Single-Family Homeowners Not to be confused with the Federal Eviction Moratorium for tenants, certain federally-backed mortgages are subject to a foreclosure moratorium that currently expires 12/31/2020. Covered federal loans:
While not a foreclosure moratorium, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are offering a 12-month forbearance on mortgages. Homeowners can check if their mortgage is owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac online. Ineligible homeowners who are experiencing financial hardship due to COVID-19 (or otherwise) are encouraged to contact their lender to request a forbearance, a payment plan, or other resources that are available. - Adapted from Keep up in a complex landscape: key Jan. 1 milestones for families, Samantha Morton, MLPB, November 23, 2020
Coming Soon: COVID Eviction Legal Help Project The Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation will manage a new COVID Eviction Legal Help Project (CELH) to provide urgently needed legal assistance in pandemic-related eviction cases. The CELH Project will expand the capacity of existing legal aid organizations to provide essential help to income-eligible tenants facing eviction due to COVID-19 and to landlords who are income-eligible owner-occupants of two- and three-family homes. MLAC will oversee the delivery of services through contracts with the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, the Volunteer Lawyers Project, and six regional legal aid organizations across the state: Community Legal Aid, De Novo, Greater Boston Legal Services, Northeast Legal Aid, and South Coastal Counties Legal Services. The program is part of the Baker-Polito Administration’s Eviction Diversion Initiative, to support tenants and landlords facing financial challenges caused by the pandemic. The goal of this initiative is to keep tenants safely in their homes and to support the ongoing expenses of landlords after the Commonwealth’s pause of evictions and foreclosures expired on October 17. The CELH project will provide referrals, legal information, assistance, and legal representation in all sittings of the Massachusetts Housing Court, including the lawyer for the day program, to preserve or achieve housing stability. When possible, it will also provide legal assistance in District Courts with high-volume summary process caseloads and to prevent the termination of subsidies prior to court to avert eviction. MLAC will partner with Massachusetts Law Reform Institute and the Volunteer Lawyers Projectto develop two initiatives:
For more info, please visit mlac.org - See the full MLAC press release.
RAFT is Understaffed and Overwhelmed It’s a weekday afternoon at the Archdale Village public housing development in Roslindale, and Margareth Joseph is still recovering from another nearly sleepless night. Joseph, who's 60, has lived for 30 years in a two-bedroom apartment here. Now she shares it with her two daughters, and their two kids—all five living on the less-than-$1,000 social security checks Joseph gets each month. Her daughters lost their jobs at the beginning of the pandemic, and haven’t been able to go back to work. Joseph said she owes $6,000 in back rent, and she’s afraid of getting evicted. She’s been waiting for months to hear whether she will get any help from the state's Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT) program. A spokesperson for Metro Housing, the nonprofit administering RAFT in the Boston area, told WBUR that Joseph was approved to receive $2,400—and the money went out in late September. But Joseph and her lawyer say she was not informed that she had been awarded money under RAFT. They also say that the landlord received the money without knowing who it was for. It was only when WBUR inquired about the money that Joseph learned it had been awarded. Joseph's attorney, Melanie Gleason of Lawyers for Civil Rights, said that the confusion surrounding Joseph’s case isn’t unique, because of the huge demands now being placed on RAFT. "I think there are tenants who have been counting on these funds and have applied, way back when, in the summer and in July, even beforehand," she said. "And they still haven't seen that money. And they are understandably—now that the [eviction] moratorium is lifted—wondering what's next for them.” The state is relying on RAFT to help renters during the pandemic, and the nonprofits administering it are being criticized for long delays and mounting uncertainty. The money is being administered by nine regional organizations across Massachusetts. The executive director of Metro Housing Boston, Chris Norris, said RAFT is the cornerstone of the state’s eviction-prevention effort. But he said his group is too understaffed to deal with the demand they’re facing, and the application process is more complicated than it needs to be. "Our focus should be on serving as many people as possible, as quickly as possible with the funds that they need to remain housed," Norris said. "And unfortunately, the way the system is currently set up, we have restriction after restriction after restriction—and documentation after documentation after documentation—and it makes it extremely difficult for someone to navigate their way through it.” Case in point: Norris said Metro Housing received 25 RAFT applications one day last week. Only two of them were filled out completely. Norris said that over the first three months of the pandemic he saw as much demand as in the entire previous year. Andrea Park, an attorney at the Mass Law Reform Institute, said she expects the state will soon see a tidal wave of evictions in court. And she said RAFT alone isn’t enough to prevent that. "We have the pandemic on top of a pre-existing housing crisis," Park said. "And to say that we will help all of those people who I think of as being akin to victims of a natural disaster…and to say that, 'First you should [face eviction], and then you should try to access this money...', It's the backwards approach." Stefanie Coxe of the Regional Housing Network—the umbrella organization encompassing the nine regional groups that administer RAFT—said one of the most effective changes to the program would be streamlining the process by which people are granted assistance. "One of our board members was saying their best case manager can do 10 applications a week," Coxe said. "That has nothing to do with the staff, that tells you about the hoops that you have to jump through in order to get an application approved.” A spokesperson for the Department of Housing and Community Development, which oversees RAFT, says a more streamlined application is in the works—as well as a platform to allow landlords to engage with the program directly. Macro Advocacy Here are two surveys seeking to learn more about the applicant experience to assist in advocacy efforts. Each survey links to the other. Emergency Assistance shelter and HomeBASE - With Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) offices closed, calling in to apply is the only way many families have to apply for shelter. However, many families find that no one picks up their calls and that they are unable to leave a message, and other families struggle with burdensome documentation requests. The MA Coalition for the Homeless survey seeks information about applying for Emergency Assistance shelter and HomeBASE. https://tinyurl.com/MCHsurveyEA Evictions and RAFT - Massachusetts Law Reform Institute survey about applicant experience with related to evictions and RAFT: https://bit.ly/3oEgUoB - See the full WBUR story with additional material from Kelly Turley, MA Coalition for the Homeless.
Back SNAP Payments Going to 25,000 Households - Those No Longer Receiving Should Check EBT As reported last month (Reminder – SNAP Work Rules Are Suspended During Pandemic, Those Cut-Off Can Reapply, and ABAWD Lawsuit Settlement), MLRI recently settled a lawsuit with DTA regarding DTA's failure to send a 10 day advance notice before cutting off Able Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWDs) who did not satisfy work requirements pre-pandemic. DTA is now issuing one month's worth of back SNAP to about 25,000 households. DTA is issuing the back SNAP payments on a staggered schedule - the first group should have received SNAP on their EBT cards as of 11/17. Between now and mid-December all 25,000 should get about $4.5 million in back SNAP benefits. The amount issued will vary; it will be the benefit amount the ABAWD was receiving at the time of cut-off. Reminder that there are NO work rules in place right now. Folks cut off in the past due to the ABAWD time limit who have income below 200% FPL should reapply! For more information about the lawsuit, including copies of the notices sent to households, visit: Masslegalhelp.org/snaptimelimit. Advocates may contact Vicky Negus from MLRI with any questions vnegus@mlri.org - From Victoria Negus, MLRI, November 16, 2020
This month the federal government released 90% of the LIHEAP (fuel assistance) funds that have been appropriated for the 2020-2021 program. MA received $123 million, about $9 million more than last year. Also, we have $27 M of other LIHEAP funds that came to the state via the CARES Act. Thus, the total available is $150 M, more than we've had in most recent years. However, we expect that the number of applicants may increase sharply as so many households have lost work due to COVID. - Adapted from “Feds release LIHEAP funds”, Charles Harak, National Consumer Law Center, November 6, 2020
Citing Possible Fraud, Mass. is Rejecting Unemployment Claims at a High Rate Governor Charlie Baker on November 23rd revealed that a very high percentage of claims filed for unemployment benefits the previous week failed to pass an initial screening, due to possible fraud. Of 31,000 new claims, he said, only about 1,000 — a little over 3 percent — cleared the state’s screening. “There is a tremendous amount of bot-based fraud going on,” he said, referring to autonomous software programs that are able to interact online with systems and users. Baker’s comments came after a reporter asked about complaints of delays in collecting legitimate unemployment benefits, and were apparently intended to help explain at least one reason for those delays. In an e-mail, a Department of Unemployment Assistance spokesman clarified that the 31,000 claims Baker made reference to were filed over the weekend of Nov. 14-15, not for a full week. It was not immediately clear how that number of possibly fraudulent claims compares to earlier weeks — whether the numbers cited by Baker represent a sudden spike or a continuation, for example — or how much fraud has been confirmed. It was also unclear how much the ongoing fraudulent claims may affect estimates of the state’s unemployment rate. Baker said that anyone with a legitimate claim who is having trouble accessing benefits should reach out to the DUA and to the governor’s office of constituent services. “Leave a message on our voice mail and we’ll follow up,” he said. (The constituent services telephone number is 617-725-4005.) The Baker administration has long acknowledged fraud as a major problem, though it has provided scant details. In July, the unemployment agency said it had verified that more than 58,000 claims were phony and that it had recovered $158 million. A month earlier, the administration had blamed a sophisticated international scam network for targeting the state’s unemployment agency, along with those in about a dozen other states. The fraudsters apparently were trying to take advantage of the demands on those agencies due to unprecedented job losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The scam prompted the DUA at that time to interrupt weekly payments to some claimants and to block the initial filings of others as it investigated. As a result, the agency implemented time-consuming measures to verify users’ identities. Anyone who believes they may have had a false unemployment claim filed using their identity is urged to use the DUA’s fraud contact form at mass.gov/unemployment-fraud or to call the agency’s customer service department at 877-626-6800. - See the full Boston Globe article.
Fewer Than 10 Percent of Small Businesses that Applied are Expected to Get State Grants Only about one of every 10 applicants for two new state grant programs to help small businesses endure the COVID-19 pandemic will get any money for now, due to overwhelming demand for the funds. That is the word from the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation, the quasi-public agency overseeing the programs. It sent an e-mail to applicants the night before Thanksgiving, informing them it had received more than $518 million in grant requests for $50.8 million in available funding. Mass. Growth Capital said that means it will be able to provide grants only to about 9 percent of the applicants, without additional funding. The Globe had reported earlier that day that Mass. Growth Capital had received more than 10,000 applications, flooding the agency in the four-week window that requests could be made. One program offers grants of up to $75,000 for businesses with 50 or fewer employees; the other offers up to $25,000 for businesses with five or fewer workers but is limited to owners with below-average incomes. It was clear that the twin programs, launched in October with federal funds, were wildly oversubscribed and that many small-business owners would end up disappointed. Just how many, though, was not clear: The Baker administration had declined to say how many would get grants at that point, and whether the intention was to give out the maximum amounts requested, or to dole out reduced amounts to spread the wealth. The e-mail to applicants implies Mass. Growth Capital is looking to provide the full amounts requested, or close to those amounts. The decisions about who wins and who loses in this round will be made in December. The agency is prioritizing businesses owned by women, people of color, and veterans, as well as those in so-called Gateway Cities, those most negatively affected by the pandemic, and those that have not received prior federal aid. Mass. Growth Capital also hinted at more to come: State lawmakers have approved $17.5 million, or half of what Governor Charlie Baker sought, in their budget plans for the current fiscal year to partially replenish these small-business grant programs. The House and Senate still need to reconcile the differences between their budget proposals, but both versions contain money for the two small-business grant programs. - See the full Boston Globe article
MA Paid Family Leave Effective January 1, 2021 Massachusetts soon will join other states in providing eligible workers with a new kind of paid benefit - one especially supportive of new parents and caregivers. This benefit was created by state law and is broader than federal FMLA (Family & Medical Leave Act) protections. Eligible workers in the Commonwealth may be entitled to the following: As of Jan. 1, 2021:
As of July 1, 2021:
Covered individuals must also meet an earnings requirement to be eligible for benefits. Before applying for benefits, you must have earned at least:
Paid medical leave may be taken to: Paid family leave may be taken to:
Differences between PFML and FMLA PFML is separate from both the federally mandated benefits offered by the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and from leave benefits that may be offered by your employer. Unlike FMLA it applies to all Massachusetts employers regardless of size. To be eligible to receive paid leave under PFML, a worker must have earned at least $5100 in the previous 12 months. PFML eligibility is NOT dependent on how long an individual has worked for a current employer. PFML does not apply to public sector workers and most public school workers unless their municipalities opt-in (more under exclusions below). To qualify for FMLA, an employee must have been with their employer for at least 12 months, with at least 1,250 hours worked over that time. Private sector employers must have over 50 employees to qualify for eligibility. FMLA also applies to all public sector workers and workers in all public and private schools. FMLA provides up to 12 weeks of job-protected, unpaid leave in a calendar year for family or medical reasons, or up to 26 weeks of job-protected, unpaid leave in a calendar year to care for a family member in the armed services. Employers are not required to pay workers taking FMLA leave. In both PFML and FMLA, employers are required to maintain the employee’s health insurance at the same levels the employee had prior to going on leave. Upon their return to the workforce, an employee who has taken leave must be allowed to return to their previous position, or a position of similar responsibility and compensation. In both PFML and FMLA, family leave may be taken to:
In both PFML and FMLA, medical leave may be taken if you are unable to work due to a serious medical condition. Who’s Covered under PFML? PFML is available to covered individuals who work in Massachusetts. Covered individuals include:
To know if you are covered, it's best to talk to your employer. PFML Exclusions (types of work):
More Information
New Cambridge Low- and Middle-Income Building Accepting Lottery Applications A new, affordable 40-unit apartment building in Cambridge is now accepting applications for rental units, which will be filled through a lottery process. The building, Frost Terrace, is located at 1791 Massachusetts Avenue in the heart of Porter Square. It includes one, two, and three-bedroom apartments, and three fully accessible units. Section 8 voucher holders are welcome to apply. Frost Terrace features energy-efficiency appliances and sustainable design, outdoor green space and patio, electric vehicle charging stations, and indoor & outdoor bike parking. The units in the building will be permanently affordable to low and moderate households. Rental applications for Frost Terrace will be accepted through January 15, 2021, followed by a lottery. Lottery results will be finalized in early February 2021 with an anticipated move-in date of Spring 2021. Attend one of two virtual information sessions to learn more about the apartment building, resident eligibility requirements and how to apply.
To request an application, visit http://www.frostterapts.com/. - Thanks to Melanie Cohn-Hopwood for sharing this information.
One Day To Remember – Special Outings for Families with a Parent with Life-Limiting Illness One Day to Remember is a nonprofit providing local, cost-free outings for families with a parent who has been diagnosed with a life-limiting illness. One Day to Remember began providing family outings in Pittsburg, PA but has recently expanded to the Boston area. Whether it is spending the day behind the scenes at the zoo with the sea lions, a day at a horse ranch, going to a sporting event or getting a complete makeover at a salon and spa; One Day to Remember plans these outings so that the entire family feels extra special. Each family is chauffeured by a limousine, accompanied by a professional photographer to document the day, and is provided a photo album to remember the day forever. One Day to Remember has three eligibility requirements; patients must
Friends, family, oncology offices, or the patients themselves can submit an application for a family outing. Applications take about one week to process, although they can be expedited by calling One Day to Remember directly. Any questions can be directed to Founder and Director Rachel Antin at 412-573-9361 or at Rachel@OneDaytoRemember.org. For more information, see the One Day to Remember website and brochure -Thanks to Jackie Cardarelli and Bianca Viazzoli for sharing this information.
Handhold Website Helps Parents Determine “Should I Worry About My Kid?” COVID-19 is having an effect on kids, and parents, whose normal schedules are upended and whose stress levels are increasing.
The site is available in six languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Simplified Chinese, and Vietnamese. Boston Houses More Than 100 Young People in First Year of Initiative More than 100 young adults experiencing homelessness were housed in the past year since Boston launched an initiative to combat homelessness among young people in a rapid re-housing program through Bridge Over Troubled Waters. The organization is a partner in the city's initiative. Funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development allowed the city to launch the plan it aimed at ending youth and young adult homelessness in November 2019. The city set a goal of creating 285 "housing opportunities" for people between the ages of 18 and 24 within three years. Those opportunities include rapid re-housing with up to two years of support services, rental assistance vouchers and permanent supportive housing units. At this point 280 of those opportunities have already been created, according to Laila Bernstein, adviser to the mayor for the Initiative to End Chronic Homelessness and deputy director of the city's Supportive Housing Division. City officials say more than 240 people from more than 100 public and private organizations and Boston's Youth Action Board — a group of teens and young adults who've experienced housing instability or homelessness — have worked together on the initiative. "It's a major feat and it means there are 100, actually 108 young people in our community who were experiencing homelessness who no longer are," Bernstein said. "They're now in stable housing with support services. And as everyone knows, this is critical in normal times but right now the pandemic means that people who are without a stable home are in much greater danger than even ever before." Bia Moreira, a housing officer for the city's initiative to end youth homelessness, says most of the young people were actually housed since May. That's because the first part of the year was spent figuring out who was getting referred to the program and actually tracking them down. "What makes young adults a little bit different from other populations experiencing homelessness is that they're very transient," Moreira said. "So it's kind of hard to find them at the shelters because they don't stay that long. They stay or they bounce around. So finding them in the first place was really difficult and because of COVID it was extra difficult." Next year the city will invest in education and training programs for young adults at risk of homelessness — with funding reallocated from the police overtime budget. -See the full WBUR story.
Hamel-Lydon Chapel & Cremation Service Launches Spanish Language Line Hamel-Lydon Chapel & Cremation Service has launched a new direct Spanish Line (617) 657-4206 to assist Spanish-speaking families who may need funeral care or cremation services. Hamel-Lydon is , based in Quincy, but serves all of Massachusetts. Their English 24 hour line is (800)696-5887.
CMS Releases Rule on Vaccine Coverage, Payments CMS has issued an interim final rule guaranteeing that Medicare will cover the cost of any FDA-approved vaccine that is developed to fight COVID-19. The interim rule also implements provisions of the CARES Act that ensure coverage of a COVID-19 vaccine by most private health insurance plans without cost sharing from both in- and out-of-network providers during the course of the public health emergency. The rule also sets the Medicare payment rates for COVID-19 vaccine administration. See the press release, a fact sheet, and the full rule - From Cyberthreat, Licensing Flexibilities to End, COVID-19 Update -- Patricia Noga, R.N., MHA, October 30, 2020
2021 Medicare Part B Premiums and Deductible Announced
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced the Part B premiums and deductible amounts for 2021. Medicare Part B covers physician services, outpatient services, some home health services, durable medical equipment (DME), and some other medical services. The standard monthly premium for Medicare Part B enrollees will be $148.50 in 2021, an increase of $3.90 from $144.60 in 2020. CMS also announced that the annual deductible for Medicare Part B beneficiaries is $203 in 2021, an increase of $5 from $198 in 2020, and the Medicare Part A inpatient deductible that beneficiaries will pay when admitted to the hospital is $1,484 in 2021, an increase of $76 from $1,408 in 2020. - From Medicare Watch, the Medicare Rights Center, November 12, 2020.
Landlords of Thousands of MA Apartments Agree to Pause Evictions Several major property owners representing hundreds of thousands of rental units nationwide agreed early this month to pause evictions for failure to pay rent until 2021 and to work with tenants who are struggling amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Greater Boston Real Estate Board announced. By signing the board's housing stability pledge, property holders and landlords said they would communicate with tenants experiencing financial hardship about emergency support programs that could help them cover rent. They also said they will pursue repayment plans and seek mediation as first steps before turning to formal eviction proceedings. Massachusetts leaders implemented a moratorium on most non-emergency evictions and foreclosures for the first six-plus months of the pandemic, but Gov. Charlie Baker allowed it to expire in October as he unveiled a $171 million plan that allocates more funding for rental assistance and streamlines applications. Despite that effort, many housing justice advocates have warned that a flood of evictions is already starting, which could push Bay State renters into crowded living conditions while the virus remains a threat or onto the street. "With this pledge, we reaffirm our ongoing commitment to support tenants and to ensure owners don't have to resort to eviction of those who are not able to pay their rent because of financial hardship due to COVID-19," GBREB CEO Greg Vasil said in a press release. "We stand with our members who have been working with their residents in good faith and have taken this pledge to continue to maintain housing stability across Massachusetts throughout the pandemic." At least 10 companies signed onto the board's housing stability pledge, according to a press release: Chestnut Hill Realty, Avalon Communities Inc., National Development, Windsor Property Management, Winn Residential, Equity Management Realty, Wingate Management, Schochet Companies, Peabody Properties Inc., and Corcoran Management Company. Collectively, they own thousands of apartment units in Massachusetts and more than 300,000 nationally, according to a GBREB spokesperson. - Chris Lisinski/SHNS - From State House News, shared by Kelly Turley, Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, 11/2/20.
Opinion- Justice Demands That We Strengthen Eviction Protections
Before passing away earlier this fall, Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Ralph Gants was clear about what he saw as the largest civil rights and public health crisis in his lifetime: widespread evictions during COVID-19. Eviction proceedings on a tenant’s record are an enormous barrier to being able to obtain subsequent housing. Research from the Massachusetts Legal Reform Institute indicates that tenants were rejected from future housing solely because eviction cases had been simply filed against them—regardless of the outcome. Even when there is an amicable settlement or if the court ruled in favor of the tenant, the eviction record is permanent and will follow a tenant for life. Since the state eviction moratorium expired on October 17, tenants are in a full-fledged crisis and need urgent, immediate assistance. There are presently three solutions that the state needs to enact immediately. Additionally, more state capacity-building resources must be dedicated to the nine Housing Consumer Education Centers (HCECs) statewide, which are responsible for distributing RAFT to tenants in need. More staff need to be hired and trained to build more effective rapid-response systems to dispense RAFT funds on an expedited basis in response to the eviction crisis. Second, state agencies and non-profit organizations need to be educating tenants of their rights under the CDC moratorium, which is in effect until December 31, 2020. At-risk tenants are eligible for the moratorium if: 1) there is an individual net household income of less than $98,000 ($198,000 for a couple); 2) they cannot pay the rent due to a substantial loss of income or extraordinary medical expense; 3) they would likely become homeless if evicted; 4) they have tried to obtain state or local rental assistance; and 5) they are making their best effort to pay as much rent as possible. Eligible tenants must fill out a CDC Moratorium Declaration Form and provide it to their landlord. Multilingual forms are available at the HUD website. Every tenant on the lease needs to print and sign a declaration and send it to their landlord via certified mail or email for proof of submission. If a landlord ignores or challenges a declaration, tenants should seek legal help at: www.masslrf.org. Lastly, more pressure needs to be placed on the Legislature and Gov. Baker to enact the Housing Stability Act. The Legislature has the ability to be able to enact longer-term relief for both tenants and landlords, yet it has not had a formal session in over two and a half months. The Housing Stability Act would aid both vulnerable renters and landlords up to 12 months after the end of the governor’s declared state of emergency. This emergency legislation addresses not only an eviction ban for tenants, but also offers other protections to renters—as well as assisting and stabilizing landowners and homeowners. Undoubtedly, the state has already committed a laudable total of $171 million to its Eviction Diversion Initiative to help vulnerable tenants and landlords. However, funds are not being distributed swiftly or effectively enough. Since July 1, more than 25,000 requests for aid were submitted—more than four times the number of RAFT applications approved for the entire 2019 fiscal year. Since April, only 5,169 households have received $15.5 million in aid. Chief Justice Gants spent the summer before he died preparing the courts for a torrent of eviction cases—aware of the deep intersectional crisis between civil rights and public health. For the good of the Commonwealth, particularly in our communities of color, it is imperative that the state take necessary, urgent action in protecting tenants where they are the most vulnerable: in their homes. Melanie Gleason is a medical-legal partnership staff attorney at Lawyers for Civil Rights. Deborah Ramirez is a professor of law at Northeastern University School of Law. She is the widow of late Chief Justice Gants. Joan Quinlan is vice president for community health at Massachusetts General Hospital. Leslie S. Aldrich is executive director of the Center for Community Health Improvement at Massachusetts General Hospital. - See the full Commonwealth Magazine opinion piece.
Opinion- We Need to Hold the City and State Accountable to End Family Homelessness Before the coronavirus pandemic induced an economic collapse, Massachusetts was already facing a serious crisis: The state had experienced the largest percentage increase in family homelessness in the country since 2007 — a problem that the pandemic has only threatened to make worse. Now, the Boston City Council is planning on forming a special commission to reverse that trend, promising to end family homelessness in the city within five years. But while the Council’s commission is an earnest and much-needed endeavor, the city can go only so far in fixing what is ultimately a statewide problem. That’s why in addition to the council voting to create the commission — which seems likely to happen — the state should begin to lay the groundwork for a comparable operation. The crisis of homelessness is often invisible to those not directly experiencing it. That’s in part because Massachusetts is the only state with a right-to-shelter law, which means that the state provides housing to people experiencing homelessness. (There are some conditions, however, and to be eligible for state-provided housing, someone has to prove that their homelessness was caused by something like a no-fault eviction or a natural disaster.) So while Massachusetts might not have obvious signs of its ever-worsening crisis because many of those afflicted by it are temporarily housed, it doesn’t mean that it’s under control. There are, on average, 3,766 families who find themselves homeless every night in Massachusetts, which is equal to about 12,000 people. Most concerning is the number of students and unaccompanied minors who experience homelessness: Over 23,000 students reported being homeless at some point during the 2017-2018 school year. This is especially alarming because homelessness stunts students’ social and academic development, hinders their mental and physical health, and puts them at greater risk of getting entangled in the criminal justice system. That’s why it’s crucial that governments act to prevent people from facing homelessness. The city’s proposed commission would attempt to do that by first measuring the cost that the homelessness crisis imposes on the city and by studying the gaps in the resources that homeless families have available to them. It would then release a comprehensive plan, based on its analysis and findings, for the city to implement. One reason the commission would be a step in the right direction is that the homelessness crisis requires a coordinated effort by local, state, and federal agencies. The current language in the legislation before the council ensures that the commission is made up of stakeholders from both the city and state. It would include members such as the mayor, the governor, and the secretaries of Health and Human Services and the Department of Housing and Community Development, among others. But in the end, the commission can go only so far. While it would have an administrator to ensure that the city does the work that needs to get done, it is easy to imagine the administrator or the commission as a whole becoming the scapegoat if no progress is made. That’s why it is incumbent on the mayor and the council to commit themselves to managing this crisis. Residents should ultimately hold the city’s political leaders accountable for making measurable progress in reducing the number of families who are homeless and the growth rate of homelessness. With the pandemic ongoing, the economy stumbling, and evictions looming, both the City of Boston and the Commonwealth need a targeted effort to finally bring an end to homelessness. While the vote to form the commission is not yet scheduled, City Councilor Annissa Essaibi-George, who has led the push for a special commission, anticipates that the council will pass her legislation early next month. The work that awaits the commission may seem insurmountable. But if the council, the mayor, and the governor take this crisis seriously and prioritize the commission’s work, then they may actually succeed. - See the full Boston Globe opinion piece
A Million People in Mass. Don’t Have Enough Food and Food Distribution Systems Have Been Upended People in Massachusetts are going hungry. And the problem is only growing. Massachusetts has seen the highest percent increase of residents facing food insecurity of all states, according to new projections released by Feeding America. The hunger rate in the state has increased 59 percent since 2018, representing more than 1 million people who are now struggling to get enough to eat. The child food-insecurity rate has also worsened, with one in five children in Massachusetts now living in food-insecure households, a 102 percent increase over pre-COVID-19 levels. (Norfolk County in Massachusetts has the highest percent change in child food-insecurity in the country, with a 163 percent increase in 2020 versus 2018.) The overall food insecurity rate in Massachusetts is projected to reach 14.2 percent this year. The highest rates in the United States will be in Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, and Louisiana, which could each have more than 20 percent of their citizens facing hunger. And California is predicted to have 6.2 million people who are having trouble getting enough to eat, the largest total number of any state in the country. New issues with a federal food-distribution program have stoked anxieties further among local organizations working to provide food to those in need. Back in May, as part of the CARES Act, the USDA launched its $4.5 billion Farmers to Families Food Box program, working with US farmers to purchase and distribute boxes of agricultural products. During the first three rounds of the program, several vendors in New England were awarded eight-week contracts, and each built a network of local distributors to hand out hundreds of thousands of prepacked boxes filled with dairy, meat, and produce. Many of the boxes ended up being distributed to local nonprofits — like the Brazilian Workers Center in Allston — which are operating outside the established regional food bank networks, having launched or expanded emergency food services as they saw the need in their communities. “Since COVID-19, we’ve had to repurpose our regular services to meet food insecurity in the community,” said the Brazilian Workers Center’s executive director, Natalicia Tracy. “The Boston food banks weren’t equipped to handle the demand, and we saw a huge increase in need for food in Allston. So the USDA boxes were really critical.” The Brazilian Workers Center now feeds 500 families each week. But the execution of the food box program has been fraught. Farmers who won contracts and planted crops for the program were left high and dry when they weren’t chosen as vendors in subsequent rounds. In some parts of the country, there were concerns about the nutritional value of the goods included in the boxes. The USDA also faced blowback last month after President Trump required that a signed letter from him be included in each box. In the agency’s latest funding round, no Massachusetts vendors were awarded contracts. This will likely mean significant delays in getting the next round of local food distributions up and running, leaving partner organizations like Tracy’s scrambling to find sources for food as they head toward Thanksgiving. Those who have been working with the USDA say that the changes will put undue pressure on the Massachusetts food bank system during its busiest season. “In two weeks these pantries are going to burn through whatever dry goods they have in back stock," said Sean Buchanan, the vice president of sales at Costa Fruit and Produce, one of the local distributors whose vendor contract with the USDA was not renewed. He said Costa handed out more than 889,000 food boxes to 400 partners since the program launched, only to have to turn off the faucet for the distributions on Monday. “It’s a perfect storm for food insecurity," he said. The USDA’s decision also forced produce distributor Katsiroubas Bros. to lay off 40 staff members overnight, said Torry Katsiroubas Stamm, the company’s president. Over the past several months, the Boston-based distributor had set up an elaborate supply chain and partnered with the nonprofit Boston Area Gleaners to deliver more than 10 million pounds of food to nonprofits, public housing sites, and food banks throughout New England, she said. The program has helped keep her business afloat as her restaurant and food service accounts have cut back on orders amid the pandemic. Now, that supply chain has been upended, and a new company in Long Island, N.Y., has been given the contract and has to start over creating a distribution plan from scratch, she said. “Before this program got up and running, we saw a lot of nonprofits that had never moved food or dealt with food moving thousands of boxes or grocery bags a week,” said Dylan Frazier, the director of strategy for the Boston Area Gleaners, which worked as both a vendor and partner with local distributors to make USDA food box deliveries. “We’re telling people you have to call the food bank, we don’t have any food for you,” he said. “People are flipping out. It’s panic mode. There’s still a line of a thousand or two thousand people with no food.” Food pantry lines have already been getting longer over the past several months at the Salvation Army of Chelsea and East Boston, said Captain Isael Gonzalez, who oversees the emergency food program there. So, having to wait for the USDA program to restart with new vendors from out of state means he’s now struggling to serve the 700 families that seek out his services daily. - See the full Boston Globe article.
House Budget Would Expand MassHealth Dental Coverage Patients who have dental insurance through the state's Medicaid program are often faced with a difficult choice when they have a tooth that's badly decayed: They can pay out of pocket for a costly root canal, or have the tooth removed. Budget cuts in the midst of a recession forced Beacon Hill leaders in 2010 to roll back adult coverage for most reconstructive dental procedures through MassHealth. Since then, its dental coverage has been mostly limited to routine cleanings and tooth extractions. But lawmakers are proposing to reinstate coverage for root canals, crowns and other services as part of the latest version of the state budget. A House version of the fiscal 2021 budget, authorizes MassHealth to cover adult endodontic and prosthodontic services beginning next year. The House budget earmarks $19 million in the current fiscal year to pay for it. The Senate's version of the budget, however, did not include the proposed changes. The proposal could be tacked on as an amendment, but it wasn’t clear if that would happen. If added, it then would need to be signed by the Governor, or if he were to veto it, the legislature would need to have sufficient votes to override the veto. In recent years, MassHealth has restored coverage for some adult dental services, such as fillings, full dentures and treatment of periodontal disease. MaryJane Hanlon, president of the Massachusetts Dental Society, said those changes recognize the link between oral health and chronic, potentially fatal illnesses such as heart disease, hypertension and diabetes. "This is a huge benefit that these patients have not been able to use for a long time," she said. - See the full Salem News article.
AG Report: Technology, Housing Could Alleviate Health Disparities Addressing the health disparities highlighted and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic will require looking beyond the medical sector alone, doctors said this month during a panel hosted by Attorney General Maura Healey. A new report from Healey's office outlines steps the state can take to address health inequities, including building a more diverse health care workforce, improving the collection and sharing of demographic data and ensuring that all populations have access to the same care resources. "We've known a long time about these disparities and while some progress has been made, it's time to treat this issue like the problem that it really is," Healey said. "It's a generations-long public health crisis calling out for urgent action, not an unfortunate but intractable problem. Meeting this crisis with the urgency it demands will mean reimagining some parts of our health care and our public health systems, and I know that our state is up to the challenge." The report recommends boosting access to telehealth and doing so in a way that does not worsen existing disparities by leaving behind lower-income, older and rural populations, and those that do not speak English. "The realization that about 41,000 households in the Boston area don't have access to internet really makes it very apparent how people are benefitting from telehealth, which we know is very important and very critical for how we're providing care for patients right now and probably will continue to be very important going forward," Dr. Mothusi Chilume of East Boston Neighborhood Health Center said during the Zoom discussion. "If there are big sections of our population that don't have the ability to really avail themselves of this, this is going to lead to more issues with inequity." To make free and low-cost internet access and devices more widely available in underserved areas, the report calls for expanding state grants and subsidies, advocating for more federal funding and developing public-private partnerships. On the health insurance front, Healey's report recommends the state require "coverage and payment parity across all carriers for telehealth services over the next two years" and "ensure payment parity between telephonic, video, and in-person visits, where clinically appropriate." Along with access to technology, panelists highlighted other non-medical factors, like access to affordable housing and paid sick leave, which they said can make it easier for people to quarantine if they have COVID-19 symptoms. "Our public health response really can't be divorced from public policy, and we can't solve these problems by ourselves as health care professionals," Massachusetts General Hospital neurologist Dr. Altaf Saadi said. Saadi said she had a patient with severe early onset dementia who lost his job and had to move in with his elderly mother. The mother lived in public housing and was not permitted to have another resident in her home, so the agency moved to evict her. The since-expired eviction moratorium the state had in place at the time "bought us time to advocate for her and her son to obtain alternative housing arrangements," Saadi said. "It's not surprising that we have households that are multigenerational, with people who are living together who have low-paying jobs who are forced to make really difficult decisions, as the attorney general mentioned, about whether to continue to work, whether to stay home, how to get to work, and so on and so forth," he said. "Thinking about this along those lines will really help us not only deal with this pandemic here but really address how we provide health care to our population in the future." The AG’s report includes recommendations for hospitals, community health centers, local boards of health and state agencies. Some changes would require legislation. Others could be done voluntarily. Healey’s office said it hopes the legislature’s advisory committee on health disparities and lawmakers will use the report as they draft remedies. - See the full WBUR story
Opinion- Consumers Need Greater Protection from Creditors There’s a second COVID-related wave about to hit families in the Commonwealth: a tsunami of debt collection activity that threatens our economic recovery. Even before the COVID-19 crisis, 20 percent of folks in Massachusetts had a debt in collection–rising to an eye popping 39 percent in communities of color, according to the Urban Institute. These numbers will only worsen as we face uncertainty around future COVID shutdowns and whether additional federal aid will be offered to people who have lost and are still losing work during this pandemic. The inevitable eviction tidal wave resulting from the end of the eviction moratorium will also increase debt collection activity by landlords for back rent. But Massachusetts legislators can help our struggling families right now by passing the Debt Collection Fairness Act. Right now, large out-of-state debt buyers who purchase portfolios of old credit card accounts for pennies on the dollar can sue individuals in court for these alleged debts. If the court issues a judgment, the collector can hound a struggling consumer for 20 years to collect that judgment. The entire time, 12 percent interest accrues on it. In the entire nation, only Vermont and Rhode Island also charge interest on judgments that high. Folks end up paying these debts for decades because they can’t afford to make payments large enough to reduce the principal. After a judgment is issued, judges can require consumers to appear in court for payment review hearings. If the consumer fails to attend (even if they never received the notice), the court can issue a civil arrest warrant. In 2016, four randomly selected Massachusetts small claims courts issued a total of 1,325 civil arrest warrants in a single year. Abusive creditors use these civil arrest warrants to frighten consumers into making payments they can ill afford or might not even be legally obligated to make. No one in the Commonwealth should be imprisoned, or threatened with imprisonment, for failure to pay a consumer debt. With that judgment in hand, creditors can also garnish a persons’ wages, forcing an employer to send them a big chunk of the consumer’s paycheck before he or she ever sees it. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development considers less than $1,008.65 a week ($52,450 per year) very low income for a family of four in our high-cost state. But right now, a single mom – even one with three young children – earning that amount could have 15 percent ($151 a week, or $7,867.47 per year) garnished from her paycheck – significantly impacting her ability to feed her family, pay utility bills, or buy a needed prescription. No working person should be forced to lose 15 percent of their pay. The Debt Collection Fairness Act will increase the amount of wages protected from seizure by creditors to $892.50 per week and allow 10 percent of wages above that amount to be garnished, reduce the interest rate on monies owed to debt collectors to 6 percent from 12 percent, and reform the use of civil arrest warrants. - See the full Commonwealth Magazine opinion piece.
Lack of ID Unnecessary Hurdle After Prison By the time Joseph completed his sentence at the Boston Pre-Release Center in May, his Massachusetts ID had expired. He could not start his new job as a meat clerk in a grocery store without an updated ID. It was the jumpstart he needed, but the delay in getting a new ID almost cost him his job. “I was fortunate enough that they held that job for me, but it did set me back two weeks,” he said. Luckily for Joseph, he had saved enough money from his job in prison to provide for himself as he awaited his new documents, so he could afford both his birth certificate and a new ID. The cost of a Mass. ID ($25) and birth certificate (starting at $20) can pose a barrier to returning citizens following incarceration. For those individuals just returning home with no source of stable income, every dollar counts. Without an ID, housing, employment, and access to public benefits are nearly impossible to obtain. The challenge to accessing any of those resources is particularly difficult for those with a criminal record. IDs are also necessary to set up a bank account, enroll in school, and vote. Removing the time lag between leaving a correctional facility and restarting one’s life with the necessary documents in hand is critical to a successful transition. During a global pandemic, the urgency to remove bureaucratic hurdles to re-entry is more important. In order to renew his ID, Joseph had to visit the Registry of Motor Vehicles. Due to the pandemic, fewer RMV service centers are open, and appointments must be scheduled online. Any online system can be difficult to navigate, but it can be particularly challenging for those with little experience with technology. The logistical difficulties of contacting the RMV, setting up an appointment and obtaining an ID could be solved by ensuring that returning citizens have an ID in hand upon their release. The Massachusetts Department of Correction says it helps inmates obtain identification 12 months before release. But according to a statement from the DOC, out of the 1,880 individuals who received re-entry planning services in 2019, only 300 left a DOC facility with a state ID or driver’s license. A number of barriers can affect how easy it is to obtain an ID, such as the length of time a person has been in prison and whether a person had a Mass ID before being incarcerated. In order to get an ID, people must have other documents proving their identity, creating a layered cycle of paperwork that returning citizens have difficulty navigating. In 2017, state Sen. Jamie Eldridge and Acton resident Dorothy Werst headed a prisoner ID program to remove some of the challenges Joseph faced. At that time, the state approved a partnership between the Secretary of State’s office and the Department of Correction to pilot a program giving returning citizens a packet of items, including a Mass ID, Social Security card, and resume. “To their credit, DOC, I felt, was very much on board,” Eldridge said. “And I think now if you talk to senior leaders, they are very supportive. But I think there’s still not a push to make it as universal as it should be.” - See the full Commonwealth Magazine article. |