For Immediate Release

House Passes Commission to End Homelessness

(Boston)  The Massachusetts House of Representatives approved legislation to create a commission to develop a comprehensive five-year housing plan to end homelessness in the Commonwealth, State Rep. John P. Fresolo (D – Worcester) announced today.  The plan would include recommendations on the number and types of housing units, support services and funding levels necessary to make the eradication of homelessness possible. 

“Massachusetts should take steps to combat homelessness once and for all.  We need an across-the-board plan that gets at the root causes of chronic homelessness and provides a blueprint to inform our budgetary and legislative decisions,” said Rep. Fresolo.

State Representative Byron Rushing, the lead House sponsor of the bill, said, “Several states across the country have already developed comprehensive plans to end homelessness.”  In 2004, Minnesota developed a plan to end long-term homelessness by 2010.  The plan includes program and policy recommendations matched with a financing and implementation proposal.  It received $1.5 million in Federal grant money from the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness and was developed by assembling a broadly representative working group led by the Governor’s office.

“We can learn from other states that are leading the way on this issue,” said Rep. Fresolo.  “We don’t need to reinvent the wheel, but we need the help of everyone to put a stop to one of society’s most intolerable failings.”