Governor Maura Healey’s administration has unveiled new reforms aimed at gradually phasing out the employment of hotels and motels for emergency housing. To be implemented over the forthcoming 19 months, this plan stems from a critical examination of the state’s current emergency assistance family shelter system which has been incurring more than $1 billion in annual expenses.
The suite of changes introduced last Friday arrives in the wake of a recent report approved by the Special Commission on Emergency Housing Assistance Programs. The commission, entrusted with exploring methods to control the skyrocketing costs attributed to the significant inflow of migrant households, suggested comprehensive recommendations.
These proposals encompassed multiple scope elements including the promotion of operational and financial sustainability in the EA family shelter system, decreasing the dependency on hotels and motels for urgent shelters, ensuring more focused resource allocation to families, and presenting clearer communication regarding shelter protocols and its related prospect.
Governor Healey is of the opinion that the current shelter system is becoming increasingly untenable, a sentiment echoed by numerous others. The unprecedented escalation in shelter expenses has significantly affected the budget set aside for other public services and programs, as a substantial proportion of tax revenue increase is compartmentalised for education and transportation.
According to information provided by Healey’s office, demand for shelter facilities has witnessed a downturn, with daily applications dropping from 40 families in late summer 2023 to now between 15 and 18 households. A new strategy has been outlined by Healey’s administration to incrementally transition away from utilizing hotels and motels for shelter in fiscal years 2025 and 2026.
The strategy’s principal objective is to develop a ‘more cost-effective and supportive’ range of shelter alternatives. The plan includes prior intimation to families and local communities about hotels that will cease to serve as shelters, which will be complemented by a dialogue with service providers.
Healey has set her sights on proposing amendments to the HomeBASE rental assistance scheme. If these suggested changes are legislated, families could be eligible for annual rental aid of up to $25,000 for a period of two years.
Recent remarks by the administration secretary indicate the potential exhaustion of funds within the system by January, consequently necessitating a request for over $400 million from the Legislature. What remains ambiguous, though, is whether this request for funds will be submitted to the incumbent Legislature or the newly-formed one teeing off on January 1.
Further propositions encompassed within the supplementary budget from Governor Healey include reducing the length of conventional shelter stays from nine months to six months, along with revising ‘the extension criteria’ to expedite rehousing processes for families.
In addition, the proposal calls for an increment in the HomeBASE rental allowance from $15,000 per family to $25,000 annually. The administration under Governor Healey is also undergoing a transformation in its approach to assessing families’ needs and vulnerability risks before assigning them sheltering.
Families that are identified with ‘more intricate needs’ and higher risks will be allocated to the ‘Bridge Shelter Track’. The proposed duration for families in this track is up to six months, with the ultimate goal of facilitating ‘stable, permanent housing as quickly as possible’.
Data suggests that over the last year, about 3,800 families, inclusive of both migrants and native Massachusetts residents, have successfully transitioned out of the shelter system. Healey’s office also revealed that investments in ancillary services has led to ‘diverting’ over 700 families from entering the system.
The shelter demand had spiked significantly in July 2023, causing the system to resort to rapid engagement of hotels and motels as emergency sheltering facilities. The pace was such that the EOHLC struggled to orchestrate and scale EA shelter provider contracts.
To mitigate the strain on the system serving as the state’s right-to-shelter, certain measures have already been implemented. This includes the establishment of a limit of 7,500 families within the system and enforcing a nine-month limit on shelter stays, albeit incorporated with a provision for extension.
The forthcoming steps that Governor Healey’s administration seeks to adopt are aimed at not merely rendering the shelter system more cost-effective and operationally sustainable, but also to ensure it remains supportive and responsive to the needs and vulnerabilities of families who are in a state of housing crisis.
By fostering a healthier balance between the supply and demand dynamics, and delivering a more focused allocation of resources whilst maintaining open channels of communication about the system’s protocols, the overarching objective of these reforms remains the facilitation of rapid and stable rehousing of as many families as possible.