Advocates urge Gov. Healey to reverse course on shelter limits

Dozens of anti-homelessness groups, medical professionals and social workers launched another plea this week for Gov. Maura Healey to back down from changes to the state's strained emergency shelter system that they argue will "force adults and children onto the streets with nowhere else to go."

With some families facing eviction from overflow shelter sites later this week, the Massachusetts Coalition for Health Equity is collecting signatures on an open letter urging the governor to reverse course.

"The brutality of this policy is frankly shocking," said Dr. Lara Jirmanus, a family physician and coauthor of the letter. "In the past week I have heard stories about families discharged to the street. Domestic violence survivors living out of a car with their young children with special needs, wondering whether DCF would take their kids. This mass eviction with only a two week warning is creating utter chaos for hundreds of children and families. Such traumatic experiences shatter the developmental process of childhood, compounding trauma for children and families who have already suffered so much, and have the fewest resources to cope and recover. Massachusetts can do better than this."

Letter authors praised the Healey administration's plan rolled out in January to close health care disparities and contrasted it with the latest shelter policy, which limits families to spending a maximum of five business days at overflow sites and then makes those people ineligible for longer-term emergency assistance shelter stays for at least six months.

New rules that took effect Aug. 1 also prioritize placement into emergency assistance shelters — which under a law Healey signed in April limit stays in most cases to nine months — for Massachusetts families over newly arriving migrants.

"In light of the Supreme Court ruling [about sleeping in public places], and the City of Boston Unlawful Camping Ordinance, this decision will force adults and children onto the streets with nowhere else to go, where they will inevitably find themselves at risk of illness related to exposure to severe weather, violence and abuse, arrest, separation from their children, and deportation," authors wrote. "Their very existence, simply for seeking safety and being unhoused residents of the state of Massachusetts, will be criminalized."

The letter signers urged Healey to "reconsider and postpone" the latest shelter eligibility changes, brainstorm other options with community partners, make clear alternative housing options for families discharged from shelters and overflow sites, and maintain equal access to school and health insurance enrollment for all families "regardless of language spoken, national origin, or immigration status."

Signatories include the Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program, Centers for New Americans, Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, Mass. Budget and Policy Center, and Greater Framingham Community Church.

Healey has repeatedly defended a series of decisions to limit shelter stays and eligibility as necessary to keep the system afloat after more than a year of record demand. Massachusetts spent close to $1 billion on emergency assistance shelters in fiscal 2024, about a fivefold increase over what the state spent on the system in fiscal 2021.

Since the fall, the state has limited the maximum number of families in emergency assistance shelters at around 7,500, and capacity has remained at that level since then with hundreds more families on waitlists.

Healey said in a July 31 interview on GBH News's "Ask the Governor" that while she is open to ideas to keep people housed for longer, "it is not unlimited in terms of capacity or funding."

Tapping into the more than $8 billion "rainy day" state savings account to help cover shelter costs, she said, is "not in my control."

"That's there, but it's not a fund that you can just write a check from. The question really is, how much can we continue to afford? You see the tab that we've been running up. That's what we're up against," Healey said.

Healey or lawmakers could propose drawing down from that savings account's balance. State law limits spending from the rainy day fund to closing revenue gaps, replacing lost federal funds, and "for any event which threatens the health, safety or welfare of the people or the fiscal stability of the commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions."

"The five days is an opportunity for people who are new here to meet with a case manager," Healey said. "Perhaps they have a cousin or a family member living somewhere else in the United States. We'll help you get there, or you may be able to find housing on your own through community or people you know here, and we'll provide you those services, but we can't continue to house people."

Healey this year sent a team to the southern border, where families are fleeing violence in their home countries and entering the U.S.

"It would be inhumane of me to sugarcoat what's going on or what people would be facing if they come to Massachusetts," Healey said.

She added, "We've been the the border and we've said, 'Massachusetts, we are a kind and a generous people, we are also full here.' And so as folks are assessing their options around the country, consider other places because we are full here, and that continues to be my position."

Healey and legislative Democrats — who have largely supported her reforms and pushed some shelter limits of their own — argue that federal action is needed to overhaul immigration policy, although no federal response appears imminent.

Opponents have been unsuccessful at getting Beacon Hill to walk back shelter limits, but they plan to continue the pressure leading up to the start of overflow site evictions on Friday.

Activists organized by the Mass. Law Reform Institute and Mass. Coalition for the Homeless plan a vigil in front of the State House on Thursday and a "speak out" in front of Healey's third-floor office.