Boston Council Budget Hearing Probes Returning Citizens, Early Childhood Spending Plans

BOSTON -- May 2, 2024, Boston City Council's Ways and Means Committee grills city officials on FY25 budgets for the Office of Returning Citizens and the Office of Early Childhood. Chair Brian Worrell presided as Chief of Human Services Jose Massa reported the Office of Returning Citizens granted more than $700,000 in the current fiscal year, placed just five of 50 BHA housing vouchers available to formerly incarcerated residents, and served 162 clients through a $1.1 million ARPA-funded rapid rehousing program since January 2024. Early Childhood Director Kristen McSwain said Universal Pre-K now reaches roughly 1,500 of an estimated 8,000 three- and four-year-olds in Boston across 57 partner programs, with infant care costs reaching as high as $25,000 a year. Representatives of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute gave public testimony requesting the council amend the mayor's budget to include $500,000 from the Office of Human Services as part of a three-year, $1 million annual commitment, noting the city currently funds only about eight percent of the institute's homicide response costs.