Gov. Maura Healey’s administration has already spent greater than half a billion {dollars} this fiscal yr on taxpayer-funded shelters housing migrants and native households, in keeping with public knowledge, although state officers contend the variety of new arrivals within the system is reducing.
In a report launched final week earlier than Healey signed one other spending invoice that shuttled thousands and thousands to the shelter system, the governor’s prime budget-writers stated Massachusetts spent simply over $520 million within the seven and a half months for the reason that fiscal yr began in July 2024.
Massachusetts Republican Occasion spokesman Logan Trupiano stated the quantity spent thus far in fiscal yr 2025 doesn’t but account for the $425 million in shelter money included within the shelter invoice.
“Unfortunately, this is exactly what we predicted. Without meaningful reform, Democratic leaders will continue to waste valuable resources — funds that could be used to fix decaying schools or provide direct relief to struggling municipalities,” Trupiano stated in a press release.
The state has shelled out greater than $1.3 billion for the reason that begin of fiscal yr 2024 on emergency help shelters, a program initially created to deal with households with kids and pregnant girls however has since come to additionally take care of migrants in Massachusetts, in keeping with state knowledge.
Among the many spending thus far this yr, the Healey administration has shelled out greater than $326 million on shelter companies, one other $55.9 million on a program that gives low-income households with money help to maneuver into steady housing, and greater than $32 million on overflow shelter websites, information present.
State budget-writers anticipate to spend greater than $1 billion on the emergency help program in fiscal yr 2025 after doling out $856 million in fiscal yr 2024.
There have been 5,628 households enrolled within the emergency help program as of Feb. 27, dramatically lower than final yr when the system was housing 7,500, in keeping with state knowledge.
Greater than 75% of households now looking for shelter are “long-time Massachusetts” residents, in keeping with the Healey administration.
A spokesperson for Healey’s budget-writing workplace stated the governor has “already successfully lowered the cost” of state-run shelters, with extra financial savings anticipated to reach within the coming months because the variety of households within the system continues to lower.
“The supplemental budget that Gov. Healey just signed and the other reforms she implemented, including ending the use of hotels and reducing caseload to 4,000, will lower costs even more and make the shelter system safer for residents and communities,” the spokesperson stated in a press release.
Healey and state lawmakers on Beacon Hill have drastically curtailed entry to the emergency help program, together with by slicing again the utmost period of time a household can keep in a shelter to 6 months and capping the system at 4,000 households beginning on the finish of this yr.
The spending invoice that Healey signed final week bars from state-run shelters people who find themselves not lawfully residing in the USA, although there are exceptions for households with a toddler who’s lawfully within the nation.
In an interview with The New York Occasions printed over the weekend, Healey made clear that state-run shelters are “not to be a refuge for people from other states who, sadly and with compassion I say this, became homeless and then come to Massachusetts to get housing.”
“That’s not the point of the law,” she stated.
In a press release final week, Healey stated the spending invoice included “critical improvements that I proposed to reduce the taxpayer costs of the family shelter system and make it safer for residents and our communities.”
“We all know that urgent action is needed to lower the cost of the system and make sure it is a viable, safe and temporary option for Massachusetts families who have fallen on hard times,” she stated.
The spending invoice additionally requires the administration to provide you with a plan to finish the usage of motels and motels as momentary shelters — websites that may usually value the state lots of of {dollars} per evening to deal with households.
Greater than half of the shelters in motels and motels have already been closed, in keeping with the administration, which plans to shutter all of them by the tip of the yr.
Sen. Peter Durant, a Spencer Republican, stated he was stunned to be taught the state has already spent $520 million in fiscal yr 2025 as a result of he thought lowering the variety of motels and motels would save extra money.
“It’s higher than I expected, and I’ll tell you why, because the last briefing that we just had with the Governor’s Office had indicated that they had been aggressively shutting down shelters for most of this fiscal year,” he instructed the Herald.
Chris Van Buskirk/Boston Herald
A small group of protestors rallied outdoors the Massachusetts State Home final yr in opposition to state spending on emergency shelters. The Healey administration in a brand new report stated the state has already spend over $500M on shelters within the present fiscal yr. (Chris Van Buskirk/Boston Herald, File)
