from Mass Law Reform and the Coalition for the Homeless
The House Waysand Means Budget Would Erode the Shelter Safety Net for Homeless Children with Nowhere Else to Go! Support Rep. Wolf and Rushing’s Amendment #603 to Ensure Homeless Children Are Not Left on the Streets!
For more information, contact the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute 617-357-0700 (Ruth Bourquin x 333 rbourquin@mlri.org) or Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless 781-595-7570 (Kelly Turley x 17) elly@mahomeless.org
And this from the Berkshire Eagle by Dr. Susan Birns is board president of the Elizabeth Freeman Center and professor of Sociology/Anthropology/Social Work at MCLA and Dr. Brent Kramer an economist at the Borough of Manhattan Community College and the Fiscal Policy Institute.
The bumper sticker on our car reads “Stop the War Against Women.” Maureen Dowd’s April 11 column (“Many fronts in war on women”) identified several “fronts” in this war, but not this one.
I’m talking about the front where the government of Massachusetts takes aim, yet again, at poor women (and their children). The economic recovery has been sluggish and around the country, state governments are slashing budgets. And what a surprise! Programs that primarily serve poor women and their children are at the top of the hit list.
One of the most dangerous proposals is that House Ways and Means (like the governor) proposes an eight month time limit on stays in emergency shelters for homeless families with children. The state verifies that these families have no other safe place to live and the families already have to comply with strict rules in order to remain in the program, but that will be irrelevant — they will be evicted after eight months even though they have nowhere else to go.
