For those in Mass. emergency shelters, the new 9-month clock is already ticking

People staying in the state’s emergency shelters could be required to leave as early as September — sooner than many advocates thought.

A new state law capping shelter stays at nine months turns out to be retroactive, state officials told WBUR. That means the clock started ticking for shelter residents back when they first arrived in the shelters.

Some 7,500 families are now living in the state’s emergency shelter system, a mix of traditional shelters and converted hotels. As of June 1, if they’ve been there for nine months, they could be given a 90-day notice that it’s time to leave, according to the state's Office of Housing and Livable Communities.

Some advocates say the new cap could lead some families into homelessness or precarious situations.

"Three months is not enough time," said Liz Alfred, an attorney with Greater Boston Legal Services who represents people in shelters.

"It really feels like it's going to throw people into chaos to be told, 'Sometime over the summer: you have to find someplace, any place, to go, or you're going to be on the street.' "

Under a number of circumstances, the state is allowing families to apply for up to two 90-day extensions. Eligibility covers people who are working or are in job training; those with kids in public schools; those pregnant or recently recently having given birth; and people facing imminent risk of domestic violence, among other situations.

Still, Dieufort Fleurissaint, a pastor and executive director of the nonprofit True Alliance Center, said the new deadline could lead people to seek shelter at places like Logan Airport or Boston Medical Center, where many arrivals have gone for help in recent months.

"You're going to have a lot of people now going back again to the emergency rooms at those hospitals that we have seen play out for the past year," he said.

Officials are planning to stagger the shelter departures so no more than 150 families will be affected in any given week. The first departures will happen by Sept. 1 at the earliest.

The state's supplemental budget signed this week directs $426 million to the emergency shelter system.