Less than two years after vowing to end homelessness in Massachusetts, the Patrick administration has proposed new regulations that it acknowledges could force hundreds of homeless families back on the street.
The regulations, scheduled to take effect April 1, would deny shelter to families who in the last three years had been evicted from or had abandoned public or subsidized housing without good cause, and to those who fail to meet a new 30-hour per week work requirement and save 30 percent of their income.
They also would reduce from six months to three months the period families can remain in shelters after their incomes rise above state limits; force out families absent from shelters for at least two consecutive nights as well as those who reject one offer of housing without good reason; and deny benefits for families whose members have outstanding default or arrest warrants as well as those whose only child is between ages 18 and 21, unless the child has a disability or is in high school.
Advocates for the homeless decried the proposal, which comes at a time when more homeless families are seeking beds in state shelters and remaining there longer. This month, the state is providing shelter for a record of nearly 2,700 families - one-quarter of them cramming for weeks at a time in expensive, often unsuitable motel rooms.
"This is not the time to change the safety net," said Robyn Frost, executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless. "The number of people in need of shelter is like nothing we've ever seen. There's never been such a desperate need for housing, and these changes could be devastating. They couldn't come at a worse time."
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http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/02/17/homeless_families_face_strict_new_rules/
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