TO: Massachusetts House Committee on Ways and Means
FROM: Harvard College Democrats
DATE: March 31st, 2022
Dear Chair Aaron Michlewitz, Vice Chair Ann-Margaret Ferrante, and members of the House Committee on Ways and Means,
My name is Luke Albert, and I’m a Co-President of the Harvard College Democrats. I am speaking on behalf of the organization in urging the House Committee on Ways and Means to support and report favorably on H.4071 An act securing housing options for eligible tenants with a history of criminal justice involvement.
H.4071 was reported favorably out of the Joint Committee on Housing. It has since been referred to the House Ways and Means Committee, where we hope that it will be reported favorably and continue through the legislative process.
The Harvard College Democrats support H.4071 because Massachusetts suffers from an increasingly widespread housing and homelessness crisis, an issue that disproportionately impacts the formerly incarcerated. The bill creates a program in the Department of Housing and Community Development dedicated to assisting the formerly incarcerated with finding housing. It will counsel and connect individuals nearing release with affordable housing and available government subsidies and programs like Section 8 vouchers. It also incentivizes landlords to lease to tenants who have been formerly incarcerated, counteracting the discrimination many face today. It also incentivizes the construction of new affordable housing, on the condition that the formerly incarcerated are given priority status in attaining units. Meanwhile, it does all of this at an incredibly low, virtually nonexistent cost.
Formerly incarcerated people re-entering society have a difficult enough time finding a job and accessing basic government services without the difficulties associated with finding stable housing. Individuals with criminal records are 10 times more likely to become homeless, a direct threat to recidivism (Prison Policy Initiative). People experiencing homelessness make up 13% of all arrests in Massachusetts despite being 0.29% of the population (National Alliance to End Homelessness; Boston Globe). The housing unaffordability and inaccessibility presented to the formerly incarcerated traps people into cycles of recidivism, upending lives, increasing crime, and costing the state more money in supporting prisons than it takes to provide affordable housing.
This bill is a critical tool in breaking cycles of crime, poverty, and homelessness. It is complementary in the broader umbrella of policy needed to combat the crises of housing, crime, and incarceration. To not pass this bill is a choice that would result in many of our neighbors suffering on the streets and in incarceration. We urge the passage of H.4071 An act securing housing options for eligible tenants with a history of criminal justice involvement out of the Committee and through the House.
Sincerely,
Harvard College Democrats
The Housing Opportunities Program
Please contact Syd Sanders, Legislative Director, at legislative@harvarddems.org with any questions.