State Representatives are currently working on the House's version of the budget for the next year, and the Senate will start soon. We have to tell them what funding our communities need!

The Personal Care Attendant (PCA) program enables over 40,000 people with disabilities and elderly people to live in the community with dignity and independence. The proposed cut to the program in the governor’s budget will disrupt this for an estimated 6000 people and many PCAs will lose their jobs. We are advocating for an increase in the MassHealth budget by $114 million to reverse the cuts that the governor included in her budget.

MassAccess is an online registry of affordable, accessible units, overseen by the Housing Navigator and MyMassHousing. Increased funding will help more low income people with disabilities find accessible units with up-to-date resources where they’re already looking.

It can be especially difficult for people with disabilities to find homes that meet their access needs. The Accessible Affordable Housing Grants (AAHG) offers developers and landlords grants to create or rehabilitate physically accessible housing that prioritizes AHVP recipients. This program has funded projects across the state since its inception a few years ago. The Governor’s budget did not include this program.

People with disabilities are more than twice as likely to be homeless than their nondisabled peers. The Alternative Housing Voucher Program (AHVP) provides mobile housing vouchers to low-income individuals with disabilities between the ages of 18 and 60. The FY24 budget (and Governor Healey’s H.2 for FY25) included several changes to the language of the line item.