Budget watch

For the homeless, a slight thaw

by Laura A. Siegel

Homelessness in Massachusetts has never been worse. Shelters were more crowded this past January, February, and March than ever before, and more than 22,000 people in the state are homeless at some point each year.

These people gained some small victories in the wee hours of last Friday morning, when the Massachusetts House of Representatives debated final amendments to its fiscal-year 2001 budget. But there were also several disappointments. "The House managed to take the first steps toward preventing homelessness and ending homelessness," says Philip Mangano, executive director of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance. "But we have a long way to go. Now we're in the hands of the Senate."

Three programs rejected in the draft budget squeaked through, well after midnight, with at least partial funding:

* Homelessness-prevention programs for ex-offenders and for people ages 18 to 24 -- the fastest-growing homeless population. More than $800,000 (still less than advocates would like) will go to expand and create programs to provide transitional housing for youths and for ex-offenders with substance-abuse problems.

* The state's program for the elderly homeless, which won $175,000 to expand from 15 to 25 beds. More than 1000 senior citizens in Massachusetts have no homes.

* The Special Initiative To House the Mentally Ill. For nine years this initiative has provided support services so that the mentally ill can live independently in federally funded housing. It needs $3 million more to expand by 250 units. It got $1 million.

Yet although the House managed to double legislators' travel and office expenses for the coming year, it failed to fund many programs that would help the homeless. Some of the disappointments:

* MassHealth for all the homeless. New language will make all homeless people eligible for health care for the first time -- but the funding is too low to do the job. Right now, the third of homeless people who are working aren't eligible for the state program, and almost none of them have private insurance. Health insurance for all the homeless would cost $10 million, much more than the $2.5 million provided in the House budget, or the $5 million in the governor's budget. The uninsured homeless use emergency hospital services at a very high rate, paid for entirely from the state's uncompensated-care pool. Insuring them all through MassHealth -- the state health-care program -- would mean an up-front cost, but then the federal government would reimburse the state for half the health-care expenses, saving it money in the long run, Mangano explains . Just as important, "You don't want to penalize people for working," says Representative Ruth Balser, who co-sponsored a budget amendment to increase the funding.

* Family shelters. The House slashed by $4 million the emergency-assistance line item that funds these shelters -- which means that next year it's very possible that there won't be enough beds for homeless families, says Robin Frost, executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless.

* Residential Assistance for Families in Transition. This proposed program would have provided one-time funds to help families move out of shelters or avoid becoming homeless in the first place.

* Funding for the Commonwealth's homeless shelters, which have been strained beyond capacity for the past 18 months. A 10 percent increase was shot down.

The legislature could still fund these programs. Watch this space for word on what the Senate does when its budget comes out in May.