Teresa Amabile: Healey’s shameful budget proposals

Published: 01-23-2025 11:35 PM

There is much to applaud in the budget proposal that Gov. Maura Healey released on Wednesday, such as funding to implement the state’s Student Opportunity Act, but I am alarmed that two provisions in this budget could bring real harm to some of the most vulnerable residents of our commonwealth.

Specifically, the plan calls for squeezing $40 million out of the state’s Residential Assistance for Families in Transition program. The proposed change to this vital program, which was created to help households facing eviction, loss of utilities, and other housing emergencies, would cut in half the money provided per family; each family would receive a mere $7,000 spread over two years.

Even more disturbing is the proposed addition of a residency requirement to our longstanding Right to Shelter law, thus discriminating against migrant new arrivals who often come here in desperate need. As a Massachusetts resident for 48 years, I have been proud of that law — passed over 40 years ago — because it demonstrates the moral conviction that no resident should be unhoused and no child should be sleeping on the streets, no matter their origin.

Especially with the new administration in Washington planning to move aggressively against immigrants — including some in the U.S. legally — our commonwealth must stand as a model of resistance to oppression of our most vulnerable people. Gov. Healey must remove these shameful proposals from the proposed budget.

Teresa Amabile

Amherst