Gov. Maura Healey’s administration now not publishes a public, common accounting of how a lot the state is spending within the present fiscal yr on the emergency shelter system housing homeless households and pregnant ladies as a result of a state regulation mandating the information expired.
In seven experiences launched since fiscal yr 2026 began July 1, Healey officers quietly stopped together with key sections that documented in real-time how a lot taxpayers had spent on shelter prices, packages designed to maneuver households out of shelter, and municipal helps.
Instead of the information, the Healey administration solely notes that Beacon Hill Democrats authorised $276 million on this yr’s state price range for the shelter system, the common quantity spent on households in shelter every week, and the full amount of money spent from a reserve fund.
The ignorance about fiscal yr 2026 spending comes because the Healey administration spent $978.2 million in fiscal yr 2025 on the emergency help program and associated companies, in line with the final shelter report to incorporate fiscal yr 2025 spending information.
The shelter tab represents the second full fiscal yr that Massachusetts taxpayers have shelled out larger-than-normal sums to deal with homeless households after a surge of migrant arrivals pushed the emergency help shelter system to a bursting level. The administration spent $894 million in fiscal yr 2024.
There have been 2,367 households in emergency shelters as of Oct. 9, a dramatically decrease depend than the highs seen in 2024, in line with state information.
Sen. Ryan Fattman, a Sutton Republican who advocated for the unique legislative language behind the experiences, mentioned they’ve supplied lawmakers and the general public the flexibility to ask powerful questions on choices made by the Healey administration.
“I think it would be a disservice to every single person in the Commonwealth for them just to go poof,” he mentioned. “I think a real leader looks at this situation and says, ‘Yep, it’s been really difficult. There’s been a lot of challenges with it. And despite the fact that we might not be required by law to do this anymore, the spirit of the law is about transparency and accountability, and I’m going to continue to do it.’”
The biweekly experiences have been created by means of a supplemental spending invoice signed by Healey in December 2023 after Beacon Hill Democrats and Republicans battled over one of many first makes an attempt to cough up additional cash to pay for shelter companies amid an inflow of migrants.
For greater than a yr and a half, the paperwork have make clear how a lot cash state officers have been shuttling in direction of a disaster that consumed Healey’s first yr’s in workplace and pushed lawmakers to grapple with what they persistently admitted was unsustainable spending.
The preliminary regulation that known as for the experiences solely required the Healey administration to supply particulars on the full quantity expended on shelters, supplemental faculty district prices, municipal helps, any “other” spending, and projected deficiencies by means of the tip of fiscal yr 2025.
In a be aware included within the Sept. 22 report, Healey’s high price range and housing officers mentioned that “we have completed reporting requirements established by that line item.”
“Reporting on activities that are no longer ongoing, such as hotel shelter or spending from past fiscal years, may be found in previous bi-weekly reports,” the administration mentioned within the experiences.
Not one of the experiences revealed since July 1 have included real-time or detailed fiscal yr 2026 spending information, and the paperwork because the Sept. 22 launch now not characteristic details about fiscal yr 2025.
A spokesperson for the Government Workplace of Housing and Livable Communities confirmed that the administration is now not required to report fiscal-year-to-date spending.
The fiscal information within the paperwork have been typically a spot the place the general public, lawmakers, and different elected officers might glean details about a surge in spending that was typically marked by fast decision-making and controversial political debates.
Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance Director Paul Craney mentioned the information supplied a place to begin to determine the place taxpayer {dollars} have been being directed.
“It’s never really (been) the full picture, because some of these expenses are probably pretty fungible, but it brings a level of accountability,” Craney informed the Herald.
In a report launched Monday, state officers mentioned the common weekly price for households within the emergency help shelter program is $1,182 and that officers have spent $133,000 this fiscal yr from a reserve fund crammed with pandemic-era {dollars} on shelter-related wants
Fattman mentioned if the Healey administration is not going to voluntarily embrace real-time spending information, then the Legislature ought to amend state regulation to require them to take action.
“It took a bipartisan effort to get these reports to be produced, to understand the costs per family per week. Why wouldn’t you continue that? There’s so little bipartisanship in the world these days,” he mentioned. “It should be continued well beyond fiscal year 2026 to help us understand the trends and the numbers because we’re going to have fiscal challenges for years to come.”
Craney agreed.
“The Legislature should definitely reinstate this disclosure because it is helpful for the public to know how much they’re spending on a weekly basis. It actually makes it a little bit more tangible for the average person,” he mentioned.
Spokespeople for Sen. Michael Rodrigues of Westport and Rep. Aaron Michlewitz of the North Finish, the chief price range writers in every chamber to whom the experiences are addressed, declined to remark when requested in the event that they seen that Healey stopped publishing real-time spending information.
A spokesperson for Healey’s housing company mentioned the administration inherited a shelter system in 2023 that “was not equipped to handle the surge in demand Massachusetts experienced these past few years.”
“Gov. Healey imposed reforms, such as a capacity limit, length of stay limit, residency requirements, and background checks, that have successfully reduced caseloads and costs. We expect fiscal year 2026 costs to be hundreds of millions of dollars less than fiscal year 2025,” the spokesperson mentioned in an announcement to the Herald.
