Free Republic

Homeless families already in emergency shelters, including migrants from other countries, may be eligible for a state-run program that provides up to $30,000 over two years to find stable housing. The program, HomeBASE, has long served homeless families with children or pregnant women living in the emergency shelter system, which provides temporary housing under state’s decades-old right-to-shelter law. About half of the shelter system houses Massachusetts residents, according to state officials. Resettlement agencies are also working with Gov. Maura Healey’s administration to stand up a pilot program that would, according to one draft plan, help up to 400 migrants in...

Households headed by immigrants have a substantially higher rate of welfare use than native-headed households, according a report released by the Center for Immigration Studies this week. The report examined census data about the use of welfare programs – cash assistance, food assistance, housing assistance, and Medicaid – and compared usage by immigrant headed households with at least one child – those headed both by legal and illegal immigrants – with usage by native headed households with at least one child. 57 percent of immigrant headed households participate in at least one welfare program, compared to 39 percent of native...

A grandmother caring for seven kids on $600 a month has sued the San Antonio Housing Authority, claiming it violated her 14th Amendment right to due process by taking away her federal housing voucher without a proper hearing. Janet Anderson, a housekeeper who cares for her five children and two grandchildren, filed the lawsuit last week in federal court. The lawsuit claims SAHA terminated her rent subsidy because of "unreported family income" but failed to explain in detail what the income was or when she got it. Late Monday, a SAHA spokeswoman said a letter detailing the violation would be...