MLRI’s Priority Budget Amendments
On May 9, 2023, the Senate Committee on Ways and Means released its budget proposal for fiscal year 2024. In addition to providing an analysis of the budget, MLRI is working alongside coalition partners to advocate for amendments that would allow the budget to better serve low-income people. We encourage you to reach out to your State Senators to ask them to support these crucial amendments. Find your State Senator and their contact information here.
Michael Curry is MLRI’s 2023 Catalyst for Change Honoree
For more than 50 years, the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute has advocated to advance policies and practices that secure economic, racial, and social justice for low-income communities. Over the past seven years, MLRI’s Catalyst for Change award and event have celebrated exceptional leaders in the community who strive for these same goals and who have achieved incredible success in making a positive impact on the people of Massachusetts.
We are excited to announce that the 2023 Catalyst for Change honoree is Michael Curry, Esq.
Feeding Our Neighbors Coalition Hosts Legislative Briefing on Restoring Basic Benefits for Immigrant Households on May 2nd at the Massachusetts State House
Media Contact:
Christine Dunn, Seven Letter
christine@sevenletter.com
617.646.1044
Boston (April 26,2023) – Members of the media and public are invited to attend a legislative briefing event on Tuesday, May 2, 2023 to raise awareness to the plight of the immigrant community who lack access to basic food assistance and other key benefits. This event will highlight the need for both legislation and funding to restore basic food and cash assistance benefits for legally present immigrants, and will include presentations from medical professionals and organizations working with immigrant families. It will also include resources for constituent services staff working with immigrant families.
Take Action to Support an Anti-Poverty State Budget
Our state budget is a representation of our values – what is funded is the foundation of our state’s future, and the state only funds what we fight for.
The budget process can be intimidating to even the most seasoned of observers, which is why every year MLRI advocates analyze the Gubernatorial, House, and Senate budget proposals to see how they will impact low-income residents of the Commonwealth.
This analysis forms the basis of our advocacy. We support parts of the budget that benefit low-income people and we promote amendments that would make the budget a stronger tool for fighting poverty.
Nationwide Advocacy on Behalf of Special Immigrant Juveniles
Special Immigrant Juveniles (SIJs) are abused, abandoned and neglected young people who may qualify for lawful permanent residence (known as “green card” status) under federal laws created to protect this vulnerable population. While some SIJs are eligible to apply for permanent residence immediately, over 45,000 Special Immigrant Juveniles from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras are trapped in a visa “backlog” and must wait years for one of the numerically limited slots to become available.
Massachusetts Law Reform Institute and Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless Celebrate Inclusion of Eviction Protections in the House Ways and Means Budget and Call for Robust Rental Assistance
For Immediate Release:
Contact: Christine Dunn
christine@sevenletter.com | 617.646.1044
Eviction protections expired March 31st, and the failure to restore would increase avoidable evictions, cause loss of housing and homelessness, and reduce rental assistance payments to landlords.
Boston, MA (April 14, 2023)— Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) and Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless (MCH) are praising language in the recently released House Ways and Means fiscal year 2024 state budget to reinstate and make permanent critical eviction protections known as “Chapter 257”. These protections would guarantee that tenants facing eviction are granted a case continuance if they have a pending emergency rental assistance application, ensuring that time is provided for tenants and landlords to gain access to critical funding and avoid unnecessary evictions.
MLRI Applauds Governor Healey and Legislature’s Investment in Low-Income Families
Boston, MA (March 29, 2023) – The Massachusetts Law Reform Institute applauds the state legislature’s passage and Governor Healey’s enaction of the FY23 supplemental budget, which includes critically important provisions for low-income Massachusetts residents facing food insecurity and housing instability.
Recent Report by Massachusetts Law Reform Institute Examines Flaws in Multi-Million Dollar State Tax Subsidy for Market-Rate Housing Developers
Media Contact
Christine Dunn, Seven Letter
christine@sevenletter.com
617.646.1044
Report includes recommendations on how to reform HDIP to include affordability, equity and accountability.
BOSTON, MA (March 22, 2023) — A recent report on the Housing Development Incentive Program (HDIP) written by the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) provides the first overall review of this multi-million dollar state subsidy for developers of market-rate and high-priced housing in Gateway Cities.