Monday @ State House, protect right to shelter for homeless families. & Summer EBT

07/25/24

A few updates below. Thee most critical and important is Monday’s event at the State House:

Join MLRI & MA Coalition for the Homeless Monday 11-Noon in front of the State House to uphold shelter for children and families  

We urge you to join us on Monday to call on the Governor and Legislature to uphold access to shelter for children and families. On Tuesday, July 23, Governor Healey announced changes to the Emergency Assistance (EA) family shelter system that will force children and their families out with no safe place to sleep at night. 

Families who are deemed eligible for shelter will now be forced to choose: wait in an unsafe place for a shelter placement or stay for 5 nights in a state-run overflow site but then wait at least 6 months to access EA shelter. As our MLRI colleague Andrea Park shared with the Boston Globe: “Having the right to shelter is one of the things we are very proud of. In Massachusetts, we have a lot of problems but we don’t let children and babies sleep outside.” 

 

Summer EBT benefits issued today to approx. half a million MA kids!

Before updates/reminders on Summer EBT: Families who do not have a safe place to sleep at night face significant barriers, including food insecurity and hunger. Again, we urge you to join us on Monday at the State House. 

But the good news: About $70 million federal food dollars were issued today, July 25 to approximately half a million MA kids. We are grateful to DTA for doing an immense amount of work to get these food funds out the door. 

Please let us know if you have any Summer EBT questions or see any issues! Here is MLRI’s slide deck with all the info you need on Summer EBT (we are keeping it up to date). Reminders:

 

  • Families on SNAP and/or DTA cash benefits now should see the $120/child reflected on their DTA EBT card balance. 

  • Families not on DTA benefits should get a Summer EBT card in the mail in the coming days.

    • Families not on DTA benefits who got a text about Summer EBT but did not get a notice should call 855-425-8770 ASAP to check their mailing address to make sure they get their card! 

    • Families not on DTA benefits who did not get a text or notice should apply ASAP!