Gov. Maura Healey’s administration has spent practically $830 million this fiscal 12 months on the state-run emergency shelter system housing native households and a declining variety of migrants from outdoors of Massachusetts, in keeping with a report launched Monday.
The most recent knowledge for the emergency help program was launched as state housing officers are nonetheless pushing to shut the remaining resorts and motels serving as shelters, and as immigration enforcement has develop into a flashpoint below President Donald Trump.
Roughly 90% of eligible emergency help shelter candidates are “Massachusetts residents,” a spokesperson for the Government Workplace of Housing and Livable Communities mentioned in an announcement to the Herald.
“Because of the reforms implemented by Gov. Healey, the cost and size of the emergency assistance shelter system is down. We are on track to close all hotel shelters this summer — six months ahead of schedule,” the spokesperson mentioned.
The Healey administration has spent $679 million on “direct shelter costs” in fiscal 12 months 2025 and one other $149 million on providers like HomeBase, Nationwide Guard payroll, schooling helps, and work applications, the report mentioned.
Massachusetts taxpayers are shelling out a mean of $3,496 per week for every household within the emergency shelter system, a decades-old program that was created to supply rapid, momentary housing to pregnant girls and households with kids, in keeping with the report.
The 2 Republicans seeking to problem Healey in subsequent 12 months’s race for governor slammed the incumbent for her dealing with of the shelter system, which skilled a surge in demand amid an inflow of migrants in 2023 and 2024 however has seen declining caseloads because the begin of 2025.
Brian Shortsleeve, a enterprise capitalist and former MBTA official who’s operating for governor as a Republican, mentioned regardless of “many promises” from Healey, the state continues to be on monitor to spend $1 billion on the emergency help program this fiscal 12 months.
“She has taken no corrective action since the auditor’s report went public. She has abandoned the hard-working taxpayers for the illegal immigrants. This warped sense of justice is bankrupting our state and driving taxpayers and businesses away, and it will end when I am governor,” Shortsleeve mentioned in an announcement to the Herald.
The 52-year-old Barnstable resident pointed to a report launched earlier this 12 months by Auditor Diana DiZoglio that accused the Healey administration of approving “improper and unlawful” no-bid contracts for shelter providers.
Healey has pushed again towards the declare and beforehand mentioned she was unlikely to make modifications to the emergency shelter program based mostly on DiZoglio’s findings.
The most recent shelter spending figures had been launched weeks earlier than fiscal 12 months 2025 ends on July 1, and as budget-writers nonetheless anticipate the whole spend for the previous 12 months to surpass $1 billion regardless of the approval of legislative and administrative restrictions on entry to this system.
Healey and Democratic lawmakers on Beacon Hill signed off on a six-month size of keep restrict for households in shelters, guidelines blocking out anybody who just isn’t lawfully current in america, and a 4,000-family cap on the system beginning on the finish of December.
The spokesperson for the state’s housing didn’t say how a lot the Healey administration expects to avoid wasting due to the brand new insurance policies.
“We are continuing to assess the full cost impacts of these reforms,” the spokesperson mentioned.
The Healey administration spent $894 million on the emergency housing help program in fiscal 12 months 2024, a determine that was much less than the unique projection of $932 million for that 12-month interval.
There have been 4,088 households in shelters as of June 12, together with 3,340 in conventional shelters, 608 in resorts and motels, and 140 in “rapid shelters,” or areas that solely provide 30-day stays, in keeping with state knowledge.
State officers mentioned 1,599 people of the 4,088 households within the shelter system are employed.
Boston tops all different cities and cities in Massachusetts for essentially the most households in state-run shelters, with 1,134 residing in areas scattered all through the hub, state knowledge confirmed.
Prime expenditures this fiscal 12 months embrace $614 million to pay for shelter websites, $97 million to fund the housing help program often known as HomeBase, $58 million for overflow shelters and medical evaluation websites, and $17 million for instructional help to cities and cities, in keeping with the report launched Monday.
The Healey administration has additionally shelled out $9.9 million to Nationwide Guard troops servicing shelters, $6.9 million for “shelter support services,” $5.2 million for “public and mental health services,” and $4.7 million for “new arrival supports,” the report mentioned.
Mike Kennealy, a Republican operating for governor who served as housing and financial improvement secretary below Baker, mentioned taxpayers are “being forced to bankroll billions to an unaccountable, broken system that perpetuates the migrant crisis—and we’re fed up.”
“The middle class is carrying this state on its back, and getting nothing in return,” he mentioned in an announcement to the Herald. “While families are struggling to afford everyday necessities, the state is shelling out $15,166 per family per month. It’s not just insane — it’s offensive and a betrayal of the taxpayer.”
Nancy Lane/Boston Herald
Gov. Maura Healey (Herald file)
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