A Huge Game Changer for Communities of Color
BOSTON – The Massachusetts State Legislature unanimously passed a $48.07 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22). This budget maintains fiscal responsibility, does not cut services, and makes targeted investments to address emerging needs, safeguard the health and wellness of the most vulnerable populations and ensure residents will benefit equitably as the state recovers from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As we recover from uncertain times during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Legislature is proud to deliver a budget that thoughtfully grows the Massachusetts economy, spurs job training and employment opportunities, expands services and programs, and invests in our long-term priorities, such as growing our Stabilization Fund and implementing the Student Opportunity Act,” said Speaker of the House Ronald J. Mariano (D-Quincy).
“This budget is a huge game changer,” declares Representative Bud L. Williams of the 11th Hampden District (D-Springfield). “As House Chair of the Joint Committee on Racial Equity, Civil Rights, and Inclusion, and Vice-Chair of the Black & Latino Caucus, I want to thank the Baker-Polito Administration for their due diligence and commend them, my colleagues on the Ways & Means Committee and the FY2022 Budget Committee for listening to the voices of the people and committing themselves to doing the hard work to address the racial inequities that plague people of color every day.”
This budget comes after much deliberation between the House and the Senate, who had been at odds with legislative leaders over how to dole out the $5.3 billion of the ARPA funds state government received from Washington. Renewing his push to spend more than half of the pot on a range of short-term priorities, Governor Baker vowed that $2.9 billion of the ARPA funds would be spent on areas such as housing and home-ownership supports, economic development, job training, addiction treatment, and water and sewer infrastructure.
“We are eager to work with the Legislature to put these funds to work and our $2.9 billion proposal will immediately aid those hardest by hit COVID-19 like communities of color and lower-wage workers,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “This plan addresses home-ownership gaps in communities of color, connects workers within demand job-training, boosts addiction treatment services and invests in local infrastructure. It’s crucial that the Legislature act quickly and not hold up these important investments. Communities of color, the hardest hit areas of the Commonwealth, should not have to wait to have their tax dollars be put to work.”
On Monday, June 28, 2021, around $4.89 billion of the roughly $5.3 billion of the ARPA funds state government received from Washington was swept into a fund controlled by the Legislature after Baker signed Bill H.3827 into law:
An Act Relative to transferring federal funds to the federal COVID-19 response fund … which is to immediately transfer funds to the federal COVID-19 response fund, therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the public convenience.
“Massachusetts’ economic recovery is off to a good start but it’s crucial that we address the disproportionate impacts of the pandemic by taking action to invest these federal relief dollars in priorities like housing, economic development, job training, and addiction treatment,” said Lt. Governor Karyn Polito. “We look forward to working with our colleagues in the Legislature to move quickly in putting these relief dollars to work on behalf of our communities.”
Highlights of the plan include:
Housing
- $300 million to support expanded homeownership opportunities, focused on first-time homebuyers who are residents of disproportionately impacted municipalities;
- $200 million to support housing production through MassHousing’s CommonWealth Builder Program and similar efforts, which aim to help communities of color build wealth by promoting home ownership among residents of disproportionately impacted municipalities;
- $200 million to fund rental housing production and provide increased housing options to workers and residents of disproportionately impacted municipalities;
- $300 million to finance the statewide production of senior and veteran housing. These new housing options would contain a supportive services component, and would be combined with other resources including Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, rental payments, and, in the case of veteran housing, VA health care.
Economic Development
- $100 million for Downtown Development to concentrate economic growth activities, resources, and investments within local neighborhood areas in municipalities disproportionally impacted by COVID;
- $250 million to support investments and regional collaboration aimed at invigorating downtowns throughout Massachusetts. These resources would provide grant funds to municipalities and other eligible public entities for a range of projects;
- $100 million to support cultural facilities and tourism assets throughout Massachusetts;
- Workforce Development
- $240 million to fund a suite of job training programs and address skills gaps, to better position residents who want to be hired into jobs that businesses need filled. Areas of investment include:
- $150 million for workforce credentials for entry and mid-level wages;
- $35 million to fund English for Speakers of Other Languages programs and Adult Basic Education;
- $25 million for work readiness and essential skills programs.
Health Care
- $50 million for fiscally stressed hospitals in disproportionately impacted municipalities as these hospitals have supported their communities significantly during the pandemic despite interruptions to their revenue streams;
- $175 million for addiction treatment and related behavioral health services.
Infrastructure Investment
- $400 million to fund grants for water and sewer infrastructure;
- $300 million to improve culverts, dams, and other environmental infrastructure;
- $100 million to enhance and modernize state park facilities;
- $100 million to close the digital divide and increase broadband internet access, helping to promote workforce development and economic growth.
- $100 million for marine port development.
“As this FY22 budget allocates funds to those most adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is most notable that it provides direct relief for underserved communities of color where Black and Brown people are so desperately in need of help.” says Williams adding that “Although vastly diverse, and most definitely a step in the right direction, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that the greatest of these investments in my opinion is the $300 million to support expanded homeownership opportunities, focused on first-time homebuyers as there are only two real entry points to building wealth: (1) Stocks and Bonds, and (2) Real Estate and Home Ownership. If you don’t own, you’re not going to create generational wealth which in turn will help break the cycle of impoverished people. To understand that you must put money directly into the hands of those most disproportionately impacted, those most vulnerable, and those most generally overlooked as a means to build wealth, which will inevitably help them to solve their own problems. The relief that this FY 2022 budget brings is long overdue, it’s almost like paying reparations. The Biden-Harris and the Baker-Polito Administrations get it and executed their authority to make it right for the people.
