House Ways & Means Releases Budget Proposal for FY2023

On April 13, the House Committee on Ways and Means (HWM) released its FY2023 state budget proposal. The budget would provide increased funding for many of CHAPA’s affordable housing priorities, including the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program, the Alternative Housing Voucher Program, Public Housing, RAFT, and HomeBASE. The Massachusetts House will debate its budget proposal in the last week of April.

HWM budget proposal increases housing funding by $841 million over the FY 2022 budget and provides $124.5 million more than the Governor’s budget. Please refer to the CHAPA Budget Priority chart for funding amounts on affordable housing. Below is the summary of some critical programs:

• Mass. Rental Voucher Program (MRVP) - HWM funds MRVP at $150 million along with language to carry forward $21.9 million in unspent funds from FY22 bringing the MRVP total allocation at $171.9 million

• Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT) - HWM funds RAFT at $140 million ($60 million over the Governor's proposal). This is critical given that the federal funding for rental assistance has almost ended. The increased allocation is in addition to the $100 million allocated for RAFT through the FY2022 Supplemental budget. The Housing Consumer Education Center line item has also received an increased allocation of $9.7 million with $1.5 million dedicated to housing stabilization through the Eviction Diversion initiative. 

• Alternative Housing Voucher Program (AHVP) - HWM allocated $13.6 million along with language to carry forward $5.6 million in unspent funds from FY22 bringing the AHVP total allocation to $19.2 million

• Public Housing - HWM proposes increased funding for Public Housing Operating line item at $92 million

• HomeBASE - HWM allocates increased funding of $59.4 million for HomeBASE with automatic renewal of benefits up to 2 years.

Please refer to CHAPA's HWM Budget Analysis for a detailed language comparison of the affordable housing line-items.