Policy & Advocacy

Horizons for Homeless Children is the only organization in the Commonwealth dedicated exclusively to supporting and advocating for the needs of children and their families who are experiencing homelessness. Our Policy and Advocacy work expands our impact beyond our early learning classrooms and shelter-based programs to advance our vision of ending homelessness among families with young children.

Homelessness among families with young children is a policy choice. In Massachusetts, we have accepted family homelessness for far too long. Horizons for Homeless Children advocates for new policy directions that would end family homelessness in the Commonwealth.

Our advocacy work prioritizes legislation, appropriations, and regulatory changes that support the families we work within three major policy areas:

  • Housing Policy: We support policies that help prevent family homelessness from occurring, and then assist when families do experience bouts of homelessness.

  • Early Education and Care Policy: We are proponents of policies that help families afford quality care and those that adequately fund providers serving at-risk children.

  • Anti-Poverty and Income Security: We are committed to supporting policies that empower the families Horizons serves and those like them to meet their own basic needs and chart a path towards economic success.

Horizons Priority Policies for 193rd Session of the Massachusetts Legislature (2023-2024)

The massive disruptions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have underscored the need for the legislature to turn its attention to our systems of early education and care, housing supports, and income security. Horizons prioritizes bills that address these concerns according to their impact on our families statewide:

  • Tier 1: Bills and funding that focus directly on issues of family homelessness or Horizons’ service delivery. Horizons supports these policies most actively and directly.
  • Tier 2: Bills that will have a large impact on issues of housing, early education, or poverty that affect families facing housing instability. Horizons will support these policies in coalition with other organizations.