Gov. Maura Healey filed a $425 million spending invoice Tuesday that makes an attempt to empty practically all of an account stuffed with pandemic-era surplus {dollars} to pay for emergency shelter prices by the remainder of fiscal 12 months 2025.
Cash for the state-run shelter system — which is housing each migrants and native residents — is predicted to run dry by the top of January with out one other infusion and Healey argued extra cash is important to “guarantee continued protected shelter and companies for households” amid heightened demand.
“Within the face of this continued demand and the federal authorities’s failure to advance an answer, extra sources are essential to fund the present system within the quick time period whereas accelerating efforts to extend the speed of exits and convey the caseload all the way down to sustainable ranges within the medium- to long-term,” Healey mentioned in a letter to lawmakers.
Healey coupled her practically half-billion greenback request with proposed coverage modifications that make good on her promise to slash the period of time households can keep in state-run shelters from 9 to 6 months, section out using expensive accommodations and accommodations by the top of the 12 months, and cut back the inhabitants of the shelter system to 4,000 households by June 2026.
Each the spending request and coverage proposals will want buy-in from Democrats who management the Home and Senate. A spokesperson for Senate President Karen Spilka mentioned her workplace would assessment the invoice “as soon as it arrives within the Senate.”
A spokesperson for Home Speaker Ron Mariano didn’t instantly reply to a Herald inquiry.
The governor has confronted criticism over the previous 12 months and a half for her spending selections associated to the emergency shelter system, which has come to accommodate 7,500 households with youngsters and pregnant girls.
The warmth intensified after a migrant from the Dominican Republic was arrested final month at a shelter in Revere with an AR-15 and roughly $1 million price of fentanyl. The incident got here after a migrant lady was allegedly raped final 12 months by a Haitian nationwide at a Rockland shelter.
In her letter to lawmakers, Healey acknowledged the present construction of the shelter system is “unsustainable” and politicians should “work collectively to verify the necessity on this space doesn’t unduly crowd out our capability to serve residents by different programming in our finances.”
“That’s the reason funding alone just isn’t ample. This supplemental finances that I’m submitting on your consideration contains coverage reforms that construct on classes realized from the final 12 months and be certain that the (emergency help) shelter system can appropriately meet the wants of households whereas balancing the necessity to return EA caseloads to sustainable, reasonably priced ranges,” Healey wrote.
Massachusetts Republicans instantly slammed Healey for asking for extra money to pay for the state-run shelter system, which was created below a decades-old legislation that sought to offer non permanent housing to households with youngsters and pregnant girls.
MassGOP spokesman Logan Trupiano mentioned the Healey administration will drive the state “into monetary smash earlier than they take heed to Republicans and handle the foundation causes of the migrant disaster.”
“Their unchecked spending has spiraled right into a perpetual cycle of escalating prices that has led to a humanitarian catastrophe within the commonwealth,” Trupiano mentioned in an announcement. “Massachusetts residents are being pressured to foot the invoice to fund a disaster that places their very own well-being and security in danger.”
The Healey administration spent simply over $856 million in fiscal 12 months 2024 on the emergency shelter system — which was lower than initially projected — and has already dolled out greater than $357 million by the primary half of fiscal 12 months 2025, based on state information final up to date Dec. 19.
The Legislature handed Healey $639 million to pay for shelter companies in fiscal 12 months 2025, together with $325 million within the annual finances and one other $256 million in a supplemental spending invoice.
With money anticipated to expire on Jan. 31, the Healey administration mentioned it wanted one other $425 million injection to outlive the remainder of the fiscal 12 months that ends in June.
In her spending invoice, the first-term Democrat proposed tapping practically all of what stays in an account stuffed with surplus {dollars} leftover from the pandemic. A Healey spokesperson mentioned there shall be a “small quantity” leftover within the account if the Legislature approves the request as written.
Healey mentioned her administration has taken “vital steps” to cut back the price related to the shelter system, together with capping the variety of households at 7,500, implementing length-of-stay necessities, and decreasing using costly accommodations.
“We recognize the Legislature’s consideration of this proposal, and we proceed to name on the federal authorities to behave on a bipartisan border safety invoice as a result of Massachusetts taxpayers shouldn’t be footing the invoice for this federal downside,” Healey mentioned in an announcement.
