That the City Manager is requested to include in the FY26 Operating Budget a continued commitment to Emergency Housing Vouchers for Permanent Supportive Housing and Mixed Status Families, and the Transition Wellness Center, as well as allocate the necessary resources to establish a municipal successor to Rise Up Cambridge that builds on its mission of providing direct, dignified economic support to families

O-6 FIRST IN COUNCIL May 5, 2025 City of Cambridge COUNCILLOR WILSON VICE MAYOR MCGOVERN COUNCILLOR SIDDIQUI COUNCILLOR SOBRINHO-WHEELER WHEREAS: The Cambridge City Council has been engaged in ongoing conversations amidst an uncertain economic environment, the looming end of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funded projects, and other federal threats to programs that have supported our most vulnerable residents and are now facing imminent cuts or termination; and WHEREAS: The Human Services and Veterans Committee convened on April 10 and April 17, 2025, to hold hearings related to some of these programs, including: • Emergency Housing Vouchers for Permanent Supportive Housing, which currently provide housing for approximately 130 formerly unhoused Cambridge residents, and is now being dismantled by the Trump administration; • Housing Vouchers for the Mixed Status Households, for approximately 42 families impacted by changing Federal Policy; • Transition Wellness Center, a 58-bed non-congregate shelter that is an effective pathway to stable housing and renewed wellbeing; • Rise Up Cambridge, the country’s first non-lottery cash assistance program, which has provided approximately 2,000 families with flexible, no-strings- attached monthly payments until its conclusion in February 2025; and WHEREAS: These conversations have occurred against the backdrop of the FY26 budgeting process and the City Council’s responsibility to prioritize essential services in the face of economic uncertainty; now therefore be it ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to include in the FY26 Operating Budget a continued commitment to Emergency Housing Vouchers for Permanent Supportive Housing and Mixed Status Families, and the Transition Wellness Center, as well as allocate the necessary resources to establish a municipal successor to Rise Up Cambridge that builds on its mission of providing direct, dignified economic support to families; and be it further ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to report to the City Council on each of these priorities during the FY26 budget hearings.