Advocates for homeless families are pushing for a bill that would make it easier for families with children to get access to emergency shelters and child care vouchers. The bill would simplify the application for public benefits and require MassHealth to provide transportation to medical appointments for children living in shelters.

Dr. Megan Sandel, a pediatrician at Boston Medical Center who has worked with homeless children, told a legislative committee on Tuesday that many families who are eligible for one public assistance program are eligible for others. “However, we also know these eligible families miss out on benefits due to a maze of applications in different places that require them to reproduce the exact same information over and over again,” Sandel said. “This is inefficient and increases the administrative costs of each program while creating barriers for vulnerable families that leave them in worse health.”

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