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ADVOCATES OF HOMELESSNESS PILOT PROGRAM PUSH FOR STATEWIDE ADOPTION
By Catherine Williams
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, DEC. 31, 2007…Advocates of a statewide pilot program designed to provide housing and related services to chronically homeless people while saving the state money plan to push lawmakers to broaden the initiative.
Advocates say they are waiting to pitch a specific budget amount until a commission releases its statewide plan to combat homelessness early next month.
The two-year-old initiative, known as Home & Healthy for Good, is "without question a success," said Joe Finn, executive director of the program. The program, which operates in 11 sites statewide, provides housing first to chronically homeless people before they meet traditional requirements including sobriety. In addition the program waives landlord reference requirements and provides housing despite a history of prior evictions.
As of November 26, the program housed 229 people in individual apartments and shared housing units. A total of 168 people have remained in the program and 30 people moved out of the program and onto permanent housing.
"We'd like to see it become the state's model for addressing chronic homelessness," said Finn.
Backers of the Home & Health for Good program claim the initiative saves the state money on long-term health care and homeless shelter costs. Advocates project the program can save the state $9,379 per person in annual medical and housing costs provided to the state's chronically homeless population, which is estimated at 2,000 people. This could translate into an annual savings of $18.8 million. Program officials estimate the state could save as much as $1.8 million in annual hospital costs for as many as 184 people.
Finn said that 10 percent of the state's homeless population is considered chronically homeless, homeless for more than a year. This group consumes more than half of state's homeless resources and suffers from medical and mental disabilities including cirrhosis, hypertension, HIV, and diabetes. Over a five-year period 119 homeless people living on the street accounted for 18,384 emergency room visits and 871 medical hospitalizations, according to a study by the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program.
The program's take for fiscal year 2008 was $1.2 million, double the amount from the program's debut year He said he was waiting to pitch a budget amount until the Commission to End Homelessness releases a report early next month. Finn was appointed by Gov. Deval Patrick to sit on the commission, which was established earlier this year.
The commission is aimed at designing a five-year plan to end homelessness and was scheduled to release its findings to Patrick by this past Sunday. The commission plans to release its findings in early January, according to the commission. Commission members include undersecretary of Housing and Community Development Tina Brooks, Rep. Byron Rushing (D-Boston), and Rep. Bradley H. Jones (R-N. Reading). The Mass Interagency Council on Homelessness and Housing, which is chaired by Lt. Gov. Tim Murray, will take over the implementation commission's plan next month.
The Home & Healthy for Good program was launched in September of 2006 with an initial budget of $600,000.
DiMASI WARNS PATRICK ON BORROWING LEVELS
House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi said it was unclear whether the state could afford the nearly $12 billion in bonded capital spending Gov. Deval Patrick has proposed, and called for wider scrutiny of the governor's proposals. "I think everybody should be concerned," DiMasi said. "It's obvious that the finances for next year and the revenues aren't going to be "“ may not be sufficient to carry forward on what we have for services now, so we're going to have to make decisions on what we do." Asked if the state could afford the $12 billion bonding plan, DiMasi replied, "I'm not sure we can. I think we should be doing a cost analysis on that. I'm sure it's easy to propose because they're great ideas and great investments, but whether we can afford to make those investments has to be carefully examined." DiMasi repeated his earlier mantra that the state doesn't need new revenues, despite House leaders this month appearing to soften on that stance: "I don't see any appetite for new taxes, so where does he expect to gain the revenues from?" Including roughly $3 billion in federal assistance, Patrick has filed for almost $12 billion in borrowing proposals, plans he said meet sound fiscal guidelines and would allow for sorely needed spending on neglected state infrastructure. In an interview with the News Service during a campaign trip to New Hampshire for Hillary Clinton, DiMasi said he feels duty-bound to examine whether Patrick's new initiatives are balanced with sufficient funding. "I guess the press never asks him those questions when he comes up with a proposal, but I always have to do that ... You just can't make proposals and say 'you should go along with them,' unless you find out whether or not we can afford to do that." Patrick's top bonding aide, Jay Gonzalez, said the administration had conducted a debt affordability analysis before assembling its five-year capital plan. "I guess the bottom-line is we agree it's an important issue," he said during a telephone interview Monday. "We've already done that analysis, though ... These bond authorizations aren't random amounts we're just throwing at the Legislature." Gonzalez said the administration went to unprecedented lengths to DiMasi also took issue with Patrick's remark in a Sunday Boston Globe story that the Legislature "sometimes is looking to avoid decisions." Asked if that characterization were fair, DiMasi, who has gone back and forth with Patrick over Beacon Hill's mechanics, replied, "Avoidance of making decisions? No, I don't think there's an avoidance of making decisions I think what he's suggesting is that when he comes out with a proposal, we're supposed to go along with it without having the process, the debate, etc. And I think that has been frustrating for him because he was unfamiliar with the process. That's the real reason."
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