Jan 26, 2026 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Resource finding
In the event that you are called upon to help people in your community find a place for emergency shelter or a warming center, I have compiled a current list. This is not a comprehensive list, but it covers all regions of the state.
Boston Emergency Shelters and other services for people experiencing homelessness
Berkshire County’s Servicenet Shelters
Cape Cod: Barnstable warming stations are available at the Hyannis Youth and Community Center, 8 AM-8 PM, Mon-Fri, and Barnstable Adult Community Center, 8:30 AM-4:30 PM, Tue-Fri. Yarmouth Senior Center, 528 Forest Road, operates a Warming Center Mon- Fri, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM, unless otherwise noted.
Central MA: The Worcester Senior Center and the Worcester Public Library are warming centers. Open Sky Community Services maintains a list of winter shelters in Worcester. Families experiencing homelessness can contact Catholic Charities Worcester County for emergency shelter.
Harbor Homes in Martha’s Vineyard hosts an overnight emergency shelter.
Metrowest: Common Ground Resources, run by SMOC, runs three emergency shelters. Metrowest Care Connection provides a comprehensive list of shelters with phone numbers, addresses, and other details.
Nantucket: The Warming Place
Northshore: Mystic Valley Elder Services as compiled a list of overnight warming centers. Lifebridge Northshore provides shelter at several sites.
Southeast MA: South Shore Elder Services compiled a list of emergency shelters. The Acushnet Community Senior Center operates a warming center.
Western MA (Berkshire, Hampshpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.southshoreelderservices.com/wire, Franklin, and Hampden Counties): The Western MA Network to End Homeless has created a newly updated directory of shelter and warming sites across the four western counties here.
Warming center guidance from the state can be found here. Is your Senior Center also a warming center? It’s never a bad idea to review the best practices and take the time to get the word out to your community.
Jan 26, 2026 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Resource finding
MA residents who are 65 or older by Dec. 31 of the 2025 tax year who meet income eligibility guidelines may be able to receive a maximum of $2,820 through this state-level program. Both homeowners and renters who are MA residents may apply. Eligible applicants whose calculated CB Tax Credit exceeds the total tax payable for the year will receive a refund check.
Income eligibility guidelines for the 2025 tax year (income maximums):
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- $75,000 for a single individual who is not the head of a household.
- $94,000 for a head of household.
- $112,000 for married couples filing a joint return.
The filing deadline is April 15, 2026.
Eligibility guidelines are clearly described on the Mass.gov MA Senior Circuit Breaker Tax Credit webpage.
This webpage also has a new, short publication: Tax Tips for Seniors and Retirees.
Applicants must file a Schedule CB with their MA personal income tax return—income-eligible people who generally do not file their MA state income taxes should be encouraged to do so! Applicants may also be able to receive up to three prior years’ worth of tax credits, so this process is worth the effort! Find prior year forms and instructions here.
AARP Tax-Aide volunteers are equipped to help clients with the Schedule CB paperwork. Sites offering the Tax-Aide program, many of them MA senior centers, can be found using their locator tool.
Another free tax prep program, which can help clients with Circuit Breaker Tax Credit filing and filing state and federal income taxes, is the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program (VITA), sponsored by local Community Action agencies statewide. The MASSCAP VITA webpage describes VITA services and has an agency locator (scroll down!).
Applicants can also use MassTaxConnect to file for free.
Dec 30, 2025 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Housing, News
On December 19, Judge Mary S. McElroy of the Rhode Island District Court ruled in favor of the National Alliance to End Homelessness (plaintiff) in a hearing challenging HUD’s recent actions regarding the most recent Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for FY 2025 and the previous NOFO for FY 2024-2025: these are procedural grant documents for the Continuum of Care (CoC) programs nationwide. CoCs provide housing for people and families with disabilities, older adults, and previously chronically homeless people. Those HUD actions threatened the housing of 3,800 individuals and families with disabilities in MA. It’s a complicated series of events, and if you have some time to dig into this, I guarantee you’ll find the recording of the hearing—even just the verbal ruling of the judge at the end—interesting. Her written court order is here (it’s only three pages). For a useful summary of this litigation, read this press release from the National Low Income Housing Coalition. While this ruling is a win for residents of permanent supportive housing and their advocates, uncertainty looms. For now, the previous FY2024-2025 NOFO has been put back into effect (this is good), and the recently issued FY2025 NOFO has been temporarily paused (also good).
Dec 30, 2025 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, News
GOOD NEWS: federal funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program has been released. As per the 12/3/25 press release on Mass.gov: “After more than a month’s delay, the federal funding was released yesterday, and all applications can now be processed.” Read more in the Mass.gov press release.
Local Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) agencies are accepting applications for the 2025-2026 winter season for first-time applicants and applicants renewing/recertifying from the previous year. Please continue to encourage your community members to apply and please continue to offer your assistance.
Low-income members of your community may be eligible for shut-off protection via the Winter Moratorium.
The Winter Moratorium has been put into effect early this season and extended. The Moratorium begins 10/27/2025 and ends 4/1/2026. This means low-income customers will have their utility protected from termination, provided they have submitted verification of financial hardship to the utility company: Financial Hardship Forms. Each utility company has its own version:
The Winter Moratorium helps protect most low-income utility customers from having their services shut off, but this does not happen automatically.
The Department of Public Utilities No Shut Off List
The DPU No Shut Off List provides another means of shut-off protection. Please access information on this program on the state’s website for eligibility details.
Your state legislators are aware that this protection is critical for many seniors, and they are willing to advocate for them. They can work with the DPU and the Attorney General’s team to ensure people get on this list if they qualify.
Please be aware that some gas heating systems require electricity to run. Gas consumers are protected from having their gas shut off as their primary heating source, but their electricity can still be shut off, so getting all the protections possible—for more than one utility connected to a heating system–is essential.
Nov 25, 2025 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog
The US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) recently released Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) contains a policy change that may result in the displacement of many MA residents who rely on permanent supportive housing. The Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance (MHSA) predicts that more than 3,800 households in MA that are funded by the Continuum of Care program will be at risk of losing their homes. MHSA is continuing to analyze the 128-page FY 2025 Continuum of Care Competition and Youth Homeless Demonstration Program Grants NOFO and working with local, state, and national partners to strategize. They will continue to issue advocacy alerts and share their findings. Contact Annie Martin at amartin@mhsa.net to receive MHSA’s advocacy alerts.
Please read their two-page overview of this policy change’s threat to housing in the US and in MA.
Proponents of HUD’s policy change are critics of the Housing First approach, which relies on the premise that providing stable housing to people who are experiencing homelessness and have behavioral health needs (often manifesting as substance use disorder) is the first, necessary step for safety, security, and the possibility of important life changes.
Those in favor of HUD’s policy change argue that Housing First has not worked, but they do not address the high cost of housing, which is the chief driver of the country’s homelessness crisis. New HUD policy will reduce funding for permanent supportive housing to Continuum of Care grantees from 90% to 30% of the program’s Annual Renewal Demand, a move that is certain to cause an increase in homelessness.
What can we do?
Short term actions (best done ASAP):
- Contact your member of Congress and encourage them to:
- Urge the White House and HUD to maintain the two-year CoC funding cycle and ensure any major program changes go through the proper legislative channels.
- Include protective language in a legislative vehicle to preserve the two-year funding cycle and safeguard supportive housing programs.
- Educate your local leaders & community stakeholders. The impact will be felt locally – educate mayors, city councils, select boards, hospitals, faith communities, business leaders, funders, and more.
- Reach out to contacts in other states and encourage them to contact their Members of Congress. These changes will impact communities nationwide.
- Sign and send this National Alliance to End Homelessness letter to your Congresspeople urging their action to stop this attack on federal homelessness funding.
- Sign on your organization to this National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) letter urging Congress to enact FY26 spending bills that reject cuts to HUD programs and instead provide the highest level of funding possible.
- Sign on as an individual constituent to this NLIHC letter.
Long term actions we can take:
- Improve our understanding of local Continuum of Care programs and permanent supportive housing, which incorporates important services for people living with disabilities
- Familiarize ourselves with how this policy change will impact the Continuum of Care program
- Learn about the US Supreme Court’s June 2024 decision that is being decried as the criminalization of homelessness and what that might look like in your community
- Contact your state legislators and members of Congress to express your concerns and ask questions
- Continue to learn about tools for finding income-restricted units in your region
- Build relationships with other organizations and workers who assist people with housing stability
- Join a regional alliance dedicated to ending homelessness (i.e. Western MA Network to End Homelessness)
- Join our state’s Supportive Housing Pipeline Coalition
- Share information about this issue on social media platforms and in conversation
For additional context:
“Trump Administration Proposes a Drastic Cut in Housing Grants,” New York Times, Nov. 12, 2025
From article: “By cutting aid for permanent housing by two-thirds next year, the plan risks a sudden end of support for most of the people the Continuum places in such housing nationwide, beginning as soon as January. All are disabled — a condition of the aid — and many are 50 or older. The document does not explain how they would find housing.”
Oct 2, 2025 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog
The following update was provided by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities and is shared here with their permission:
As you may know, federal LIHEAP staff have been laid off [Note: this happened in April 2025]. LIHEAP funding is subject to congressional appropriating funds. The President’s budget has zeroed out the LIHEAP program, but as you may know, the House and Senate have released their budgets and both have funding for LIHEAP.
There may be a delay in local action agencies (LAAs) if there is a delay in funding as they will be unable to hire staff until Congress passes a budget, or an interim budget prior to the start of the federal fiscal year.
If there is a federal shut down due to a budget not being passed that will further delay processing of applications.
The EOHLC will have some carry over funds that we will contract out to the LAAs so they will be able to deal with emergencies.
The start of the heating season does not change. It begins on November 1.
Sep 25, 2025 | Grants & Funding Resources, News, Resource finding, State
Many MA artists, performers, and other cultural program-creators routinely partner with senior centers to apply for Local Cultural Council grants. These grants, offered yearly, provide funds for arts programming that might otherwise be inaccessible to Councils on Aging with limited budgets.
The application deadline for Mass Cultural Council’s Local Cultural Council Grants is October 16.
If this is news to you and you’re interested in learning more about the kinds of programs that these grants support, you can look up any community’s LCC on the MCC website and see the list of recent grant recipients, the titles of their projects, and the amount they received. If you or the artist you’re working with are interested in offering a program to residents of more than one city or town, the applicant (usually the artist devising the program) may submit applications to more than one LCC.
Each LCC has its own set of funding priorities, so be sure to read up on your particular community’s LCC profile, which will also provide local contact information.
Sep 9, 2025 | Age & Dementia Friendly, Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Legislative Alerts
An Act supporting family caregivers, S.1938/H.3159, has been scheduled for a hearing in the Joint Committee on Revenue on Tuesday, September 16, 2025 at 10:30am in Hearing Room A1 and Virtual. This bill is supported by MCOA.
Staff members at Councils on Aging know that caregivers are often spouses, and they know that caregivers shoulder a massive responsibility that can lead to negative health impacts and financial strain. If you’ve witnessed caregiver challenges, your testimony can make a difference.
The hearing notice is linked here, where you can find all of the information you’ll need for providing oral and/or written testimony. The deadline to sign up to provide oral testimony is Monday, September 15, 2025 at 12 PM, (see instructions in the linked hearing notice on how to sign up). The deadline for submitting written testimony is testimony is 53 days from the date of the hearing.
Senator Joanne Comerford filed S.1938 in the Senate and Reps. Kushmerek and Rogers filed H.3159 in the House. Both bills have the same text.
Senator Comerford’s office prepared this short summary of the bill (please note that this bill contains language from a bill Senator Comerford filed in previous sessions, An Act allowing spouses to serve as caregivers):
Family caregivers provide care and support for a relative with a physical or mental health problem, allowing their loved one to receive dignified care and remain in their home. While providing this essential care and service, family caregivers often experience hardships including a loss of income if they have to leave their job, workplace discrimination, and their own mental and physical health challenges. This omnibus bill creates new benefits and policies to support family caregivers and their loved ones, including providing a tax credit to family caregivers, allowing spouses to be paid as caregivers by MassHealth, expanding unemployment insurance eligibility to people who leave their job to care for a relative, protecting family caregivers from workforce discrimination, and creating a permanent advisory council on family caregiving.
Thank you for considering sharing your important first-hand experiences with legislators and advocating for caregivers!
Jul 28, 2025 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Healthy Aging, News, Public Health
Many Senior Centers and other public buildings in Massachusetts are designated Cooling Centers. The Mass.gov website has a page devoted to the creation and implementation of Cooling Centers, which offers many good ideas. These ideas seem obvious when encountered in a list of best practices, but it’s easy to overlook some of the simple but important touches like easily read, large-font signage with hours and the posting of rules of use for visitors. This is a great opportunity to think about whether or not your current signage indicating where restrooms are (among other things) is effective for people living with dementia.
Here are some ways to help your guests seeking relief from the heat feel comfortable:
- Be ready to host visitors of all ages and be alert to the needs that can arise when children are in the building.
- Serve chilled water or make sure that guests know where your water fountain or bottle filling station is located.
- Bowls of water for pets are an especially welcoming touch.
- Offer a matinee: a darkened, air-conditioned room can be an extra treat if you’re screening a well-loved classic or other choice.
- Have extra chairs out.
- Encourage the playing of board games and create some game-friendly spaces.
- Print and distribute safety tips and ideas for reducing the risks of extreme heat.
- Advertise your Cooling Center in multiple languages and utilize your local media platforms so that the community is aware of your hours.
- Collaborate with other municipal departments and boards to adequately staff your Cooling Center.
- Be sure that your public safety colleagues are aware of the Cooling Center and know its hours of operation. Maybe one of them could do a presentation on staying safe in extreme heat!
- Deploy volunteers as Cooling Center hosts.
Does your Senior Center offer a Cooling Center? Do you have any tried and true tips to share with the COA community? We’d love to hear them: please post your best practices (or unforeseen challenges) to the InfoHub!
Jul 24, 2025 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Health Insurance
The following information was shared by the Executive Office of Aging & Independence:
MassHealth has been made aware of a report that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials will be given access to the personal data of the nation’s 79 million Medicaid enrollees, including home addresses and ethnicities. The vast majority of these individuals are U.S. citizens and individuals with lawful immigration status. MassHealth has not received any direct communication from the Trump administration regarding their plans.
MassHealth have developed talking points for front line staff who work directly with MassHealth members about how their information may be shared. Please see that information below: For members and those working with members:
- MassHealth is aware of the report that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials will be given access to data on Medicaid members, including home addresses and ethnicities.
- MassHealth only uses immigration and citizenship information as needed to confirm members’ eligibility and comply with state and federal rules.
- MassHealth is federally required to share member information with the federal government.
- MassHealth cannot guarantee that the federal government has not shared members’ personal information with immigration enforcement authorities or will keep members’ personal information from immigration enforcement authorities moving forward. We object to this sharing and strongly maintain that it violates federal law.
- Massachusetts has joined a lawsuit over the federal government’s sharing of Medicaid data with ICE.
- If you work with individuals who have questions about immigration, please recommend they speak to an immigration expert.
- For a list of immigration services in the community, visit Immigrant Health Toolkit – Health Care For All.
If asked: What if I disenroll to protect myself or my family? Can you delete my information?
- MassHealth is required to share historical information on members with the federal government.
- MassHealth cannot remove historical information in our system.
- If you choose to disenroll from MassHealth, the federal government will still have access to the historical information in our system. However, you would not be required to update your information with MassHealth moving forward.
What data is being shared with ICE?
- Based on the reported agreement, the following data fields may be included: Name, address, assigned Medicaid identification number, social security number, date of birth, sex, phone number, locality, ethnicity, and race.
