Families in the state’s emergency shelters could soon face time limits on how long they stay in shelters, and the head of the state’s immigration office says she’s confident that officials will find “viable options” for those who exhaust their stays.
Continuing to fund a record level of emergency shelter services “becomes harder and harder to support” while tax collections lag expectations, the top House Democrat said Wednesday while suggesting he’s out of the loop on the governor’s spending plans.
Emergency shelter costs will approach $1 billion annually this fiscal year and next fiscal year, according to the Healey administration, which plans to drain a $700 million state escrow account to cover a portion of the unanticipated expenses.
After weeks of legislative procrastination, parliamentary delays and finger-pointing, a $3.1 billion spending bill packed with money for the stretched-thin emergency shelter system and public worker raises landed on Gov. Maura Healey’s desk Monday
Weeks after their talks collapsed, Democrats filed a $3.1 billion compromise spending bill packed with money for the state’s emergency shelter system. But they could not get the overdue legislation across the finish line in the face of frustrated Republicans.
A certain speaker of the house is in the doghouse for letting the formal legislative session end without passing a big budget bill to pay state workers’ salaries and fund extra homeless shelters.
With two days left before lawmakers depart for a seven-week break and shelter-seeking families now being placed on a waitlist, House and Senate Democrats disagree on how prescriptive their crisis response should be.
With the state’s emergency shelters on the verge of hitting a new capacity limit, House Democrats on Tuesday unveiled a new plan to create an “overflow” option that would support families for whom space is not immediately available.
A Superior Court judge on Wednesday denied a request to put a temporary hold on the Healey administration’s plan to cap the number of families in the state’s strained emergency shelter system.
Shortly before a court hearing challenging the Healey administration’s allegedly “rushed” changes to the shelter system, officials filed new emergency regulations seeking to enable a temporary hard cap on the number of families that can be housed.
With the state’s emergency assistance shelter system expected to “imminently” hit the 7,500-family cap that Gov. Maura Healey has said it is subject to, housing vouchers are being extended to families already in the system to free up more space.
The Healey administration’s new effort to help families move out of the state’s nearly-full shelter system follows a civil rights lawsuit over the governor’s plans to deal with an unprecedented influx of homeless migrants.
While it’s right-to-shelter law will remain in place, Massachusetts may not be able to guarantee shelter for immigrant families as soon as the end of this month as the state’s shelter system reaches capacity, Gov. Maura Healey said Monday.
A top House Democrat is calling on Gov. Maura Healey’s administration to overhaul its “chaotic” response to the ongoing arrival of migrant families, and establish a unified command structure.
Facing a steady influx of migrants from other countries, Gov. Maura Healey on Thursday activated up to 250 National Guard members to provide basic services at emergency shelter hotels.
Gov. Maura Healey declared a state of emergency Tuesday morning over “rapidly rising numbers” of migrant families arriving in Massachusetts and threatening to overwhelm the state’s shelter system.
