A coalition of organizations that provide services to the homeless in Massachusetts is asking the state legislature to increase funding for emergency shelters.
A half-dozen legislators Monday toured Friends of the Homeless in Springfield, the largest shelter facility for homeless individuals in the state outside Boston. Executive director Bill Miller said state funding, which comes to $26 per bed a day, covers less than half the cost of the services the shelter provides.
'"We have a 30 percent poverty rate in this city. Homelessness is an on going issue and we have to make sure we are adequately funded," said Miller.
The coalition is seeking a $50 million allocation in the House and Senate budgets for the state’s emergency homeless shelters. That would be about $6 million more than what was budgeted in the current fiscal year.
