Issue Position: Food & Homes

Issue Position

Ending Hunger and Homelessness

In a state as wealthy as Massachusetts, it is unconscionable that over one out of every ten of our citizens lives in poverty and that over one out of ten households struggles to afford a nutritional diet. It also is unsustainable, as we cannot afford the long-term implications of added health care costs, generational poverty and wasted creativity and talent. Access to early childhood education and health care for at-risk families is important to provide stability, but access to housing and support services is a necessary first step for families to be able to take advantage of improved programs. More affordable and readily available public transportation can help those living on the margins reduce the share of their costs lost to car ownership, sometimes upwards of a third of a family's income. Greater energy efficiency and self-sufficiency efforts can help to make housing units more affordable by reducing utility costs, but as with transportation policy changes, require that Massachusetts residents can, in fact, find a place in which to reside. We must therefore take a wider systems approach, which evaluates and then invests in what is working best to address relatively short-term needs and reforms systemic barriers to affordable patterns of living and working for the long-term health of our Commonwealth. Here are a few policies and strategies to pursue:

Boost Food Security

As a former appointed USDA official, I understand the issues of hunger and food security in communities across Massachusetts. Over half of all infants born in the United States are served by the WIC program, and as your next Lieutenant Governor, I will be a strong advocate for continuing and fully funding this important federal program. Here in Massachusetts, one in four residents stills receives food assistance from the programs that I ran at the United States Department of Agriculture. I understand well how we can expand access to fresh, local, nutritious food in our schools, institutions, stores and communities. And we can do this, as previously written, while also boosting jobs and our local economy in the process, providing the right kind of support to our small farms, fishermen, CSAs, and local processors. However, the impacts of nutrition are even more widespread. We have learned so much about how the food we eat affects our health, and by promoting better nutrition and healthy lifestyles, we could save the Massachusetts economy billions of dollars in long term health care costs. Right now, the rules are all written for big corporations, but with important revisions, we can make a big difference.

Universal School Breakfast & Expanding Farm to School

Expand the Farm to School program to make a real impact on students, local farmers and fishermen. Massachusetts ranks 48th in the nation in providing school breakfasts. With some of the best schools in the country, imagine how well we could do if every child was well fed and ready to learn. By ensuring universal breakfast for every elementary classroom in Massachusetts, our kids will have fewer problems with discipline and do better in school. Massachusetts leaves millions of federal dollars on the table each year that could go towards growing local jobs, feeding all of our children, and improving their educational lives and outcomes.

Extend the Farm to School program

Extend the Farm to School program to other public agencies and institutions. A Farm to Hospital and other affiliated programs as part of a more comprehensive purchasing policy would serve similar aims of local economic strength, individual health and wellness, and improved outcomes--whether for universities, hospitals, corrections or others.

Fresh Food Financing

Like Pennsylvania, create a Fresh Food Financing Initiative to encourage corner stores, grocery stores, farmers' markets, food cooperatives and other enterprises that would increase access for residents to fresh food in areas where lack of financing has proven too high a barrier to provide it.

Support Local Food Banks and Pantries

Back our local Food Banks and pantries which have been oversubscribed throughout Massachusetts. My wife and I have seen firsthand, through her work at the senior center, the struggle that seniors face when they are forced to choose between medicine and food. We need to work on decreasing the need in the long term, and feeding those who need it now by increasing financial backing of food banks and reorganizing systems to reduce waste and make better use of food surpluses.

Fund Food Security

Fund food security and the programs here by tapping into already appropriated food funds that Massachusetts has thus far left on the table. While the state should explore changing the sales tax exemption for food and clothing to include only healthy items, a half a billion dollars is already available if Massachusetts were prepared to take advantage of the federal resources. As your Lieutenant Governor, I will see to it that we do.

Hunger is hidden, yet pervasive in Massachusetts. It is an issue that many families face, but that few politicians will champion. As an advocate for every resident of Massachusetts, and voice for underserved communities, I pledge to devote my energy and expertise to ensure that in this Commonwealth of plenty, no one will go hungry.
o Homelessness Prevention: Simply put, housing is a basic human right. Without it, none of the policies written above or below means all that much. Just as efforts have previously sought to make health care a right and not a privilege, the state of Massachusetts ought to make housing a universal, constitutional right. For those not currently housed, there also ought to be Bill of Rights ensuring that housing status does not prevent access to other support services to which they are entitled, and that their homelessness cannot be the basis for discrimination or abrogation of normally-afforded rights. More importantly, Massachusetts must improve its efforts, primarily through effective and increased investments in what has already proven to help more affordably house more people:

 Youth homelessness prevention programs to create greater residential and educational stability

 Our Housing First model, Home and Healthy for Good, which has shown positive results addressing chronic homelessness and deserves greater annual investment

 A comprehensive continuum of housing and support services which recognizes and is responsive to individual needs

 Support to cities and towns to increase future and preserve current affordable housing units

 More support for food, clothing and furniture banks alike to creatively reduce waste and transform housing into real homes

While more funding can be found through more effective management, accessing available federal funds, and interdepartmental collaboration, overall funding must increase. As with many policies discussed here, homelessness prevention should thus be viewed as an investment, not simply because of the potential positive impact on so many other areas of policy--education, economic, health care and correction systems--but because of the development of human potential, the positive impact on people.

Comprehensive Zoning Reform

Though our land use policies significantly impact the local economy, they also have affected the available supply of affordable housing for many levels of income, and limited the ability of lower to middle income families to live in close proximity to good work, educational, transit and other opportunities or amenities. A local option for land-weighted property tax reform, as argued before, could reorganize land uses and reduce speculative pressures on the supply of land which is a significant driver of overall housing affordability and quality. Current reform efforts have centered on creating greater predictability for private investment, encouraging comprehensive planning for cities and towns to make more rapid progress in meeting affordable housing needs consistent with local visions. Some version of this effort ought to be supported and implemented to deal with the problem in the long term. Nevertheless, Massachusetts should continue in the meantime to increase housing supply with development incentives for transit-oriented mixed-use, mixed income projects, and encourage local adoption of the Community Preservation Act and inclusionary zoning laws to aid in this area.

Housing Authority Reform

Local housing authorities have come under fire recently for issues of poor management, inconsistent policies and service, and in some cases, corruption. While attempts to reduce administrative costs and improve service through regionalization make sense, a move toward regional entities recognizes also that the issue of housing supply cannot be dealt with simply as a local issue. Authorities could plan and implement policies more strategically and holistically in a way that still protects and promotes local, democratic participation in decision-making processes. Massachusetts must also seek to supplement the federal Housing Choice Voucher program which has suffered cuts, but has been shown to sharply reduce homelessness, particularly among families with children, and to stabilize families and neighborhoods by filling vacant properties. More attention must be paid to the design of housing authority properties--whether spread throughout the community or concentrated in large projects. More innovative mixing of commercial and housing uses and different income households within the housing can better integrate families into their larger communities. Homes should also be designed effectively to be more beautiful, as research has shown the positive impacts on the health and safety of residents and neighbors with simple attention to detail. Ongoing projects in New York City, for example, have identified cost-effective ways to make public housing more beautiful, welcoming and healthy--inside and out--for all its residents. In Massachusetts, we can work to ensure that affordable housing can be found beyond our poorer communities and that its presence blends into all of our communities, built according to each local context.
By designing better buildings and public spaces, and a more sound architecture of interconnected policies, we can design safer, healthier and happier communities.

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