By AHMA Board & Staff
This past Tuesday, AHMA was excited to celebrate with government officials, legislators, and other housing advocates as Governor Maura Healey signed into law the Affordable Homes Act. There was much to celebrate. The law authorizes a record $5.16 billion in spending to support our state’s housing supply, including $2 billion for public housing and has dozens of policy changes designed to further build and sustain new homes across the Commonwealth.
But, we are also aware that there is a heart wrenching situation unfolding on streets across Massachusetts, where families are forced to find alternative shelter after being turned away from our at-capacity shelter system. Recent changes capping stays at overflow shelters to five days for some families has placed those families in the near-impossible situation of finding shelter within that time-frame or sleeping on the streets.
As a pro-housing organization that works everyday to create more homes in Massachusetts, we firmly support a right to shelter, and are proud to live in a state where that right is enshrined in law. While this foundational value remains unchanged, the housing crisis has intensified, exposing a widening gap between our aspirations and reality.
New research from Boston Indicators on homelessness in Greater Boston explains in detail how the region’s shortage of affordable market-rate housing, more than factors such as substance use, poverty, or mental health challenges, drives high rates of homelessness. The shortage of available housing, along with a broken immigration system has pushed our shelter system to its breaking point.
However, a shortage created over decades will take years to fix. Our advocacy is focused on long-term solutions, primarily the removal of zoning and regulatory barriers that prevent new homes from being built. Unfortunately, these solutions do little for families and individuals who need help today.
We are committed to uplifting and supporting the individuals and organizations, like the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, Pine Street Inn, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, and numerous others who are on the front lines of this crisis. We encourage you to connect and get involved with these organizations and their partners.
To solve all aspects of our housing crisis we must lean on each other. It is going to take all of us to make Massachusetts a place where people of all ages, immigration status, income levels, and race can live sustainably and thrive.