Verification to show your eligibility for EA shelter can include:
A self-declaration is a statement that you write in your own words. The self-declaration does not have to be notarized. For example, if the family that was putting you up can no longer do so, DCHD will want a letter from your host saying that your family can no longer stay. However, if the host is not willing to write this letter or cannot be reached by the time that your family needs shelter, DCHD should accept a written statement from you that says that you have nowhere to stay because the family you were staying with can no longer provide you with housing. DHCD may also send a Department of Children and Families worker to talk to the family to confirm that you cannot stay.
While there is often a type of verification that DHCD prefers, the verification regulations recognize that such verification may not be available for reasons beyond your family's control.21 If the preferred verification is unavailable, you must be informed that you can provide alternative verification, such as a self-declaration.22
Thus, no family should ever be refused shelter because of lack of verification unless the family refuses to provide verification that could be obtained by the family.
Endnotes
20 . 106 C.M.R. §§702.300, 702.340.
21 . 106 C.M.R. §702.311. Such reasons include the failure of a third party to provide the verification even though the family has taken all possible steps to obtain it; illness or incapacity; and the failure of DHCD to adequately inform the family of the specific verification required.
22 . 106 C.M.R. §702.311, which provides that the "recipient shall be informed of alternative verification methods, including self-declarations."
Produced by Ruth Bourquin and Faye B. Rachlin Last updated March 2010