House debates requiring Social Security number for public housing
House lawmakers on Tuesday bypassed a Republican effort to require all applicants for public housing to provide a Social Security number when they apply.
The amendment, filed by Rep. Shaunna O'Connell (R-Taunton) as part of deliberations over the House version of the fiscal 2016 budget, also would have required all legal non-residents applying and their household members to provide an alien registration number, and that all householders 14 years old and older to have criminal offender record information (CORI) checked before they're admitted to housing.
Applicants who do not provide a Social Security number would not be eligible for housing, according to her amendment.
By a 114-43 vote, lawmakers adopted a further amendment calling on state officials to establish rules and regulations on disclosure and verification of Social Security and employer identification numbers for public and subsidized housing applicants. The further amendment also called on state officials to submit a report on public housing eligibility that would detail the number of applicants and householders who would be able to access public housing if they were required to submit a Social Security on their application.
Rep. Marjorie Decker (D-Cambridge) urged members to adopt the further amendment, saying O'Connell's proposal would have a "devastating" impact on children, families and women fleeing batterers. "Let's not shrink the pie and try to squeeze people out," she said.
O'Connell said she has spoken to managers of public housing authorities, who told her that they can't do criminal background checks and sometimes cannot determine eligibility. "We know there is only so much housing to go around," O'Connell said, pointing to waiting lists for public housing.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments