A SPECIAL COMMISSION tasked with offering solutions to the state’s overwhelmed emergency housing assistance program voted on Tuesday to approve a report with a series of recommendations, but no clear roadmap, to help ease the burden on both the state budget and families that need assistance.
The recommendations, approved during a virtual hearing in a 12-0 vote with two abstentions, are centered around three core principles: that family homelessness should be rare, brief and nonrecurring; the EA shelter system should not be one-size fits all, and the shelter system should be operationally and fiscally sustainable.
Gov. Maura Healey declared a state of emergency in August due to the rising number of migrant families, saying the EA system had reached capacity. Officials had to raise the annual cap to 7,500 families to accommodate demand and add $251 million to the system’s budget, which topped $1 billion in fiscal 2024. Despite the increases, nearly half of the families receiving assistance have been placed in hotel rooms – most of which don’t have kitchens or laundry rooms.
The major difference from a draft report reviewed last week was the addition of a tenth recommendation that the Legislature should further consult experts and stakeholders in the field to continue the work of the commission.
The Healey-Driscoll administration had already shortened the length of stay to nine months with two 90-day extensions.
The 14 members included Driscoll, Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities Ed Augustus, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kate Walsh, and Secretary of Administration and Finance Matt Gorzkowicz.
One new appendix to the report, offered by Sen. Ryan Fattman, R-Sutton, and Rep. Paul Frost, R-Auburn, suggested codifying priority for families that have certain medical needs; are at risk of domestic violence; are homeless because of no-fault eviction; have at least one family member who is a veteran; have received a Department of Children and Families (DCF) Health and Safety Assessment that identified a risk of harm; or who are leaving a DCF Young Parent Living Program due to age limits.
Two other recommendations suggest that the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities set a six-month residency requirement for all EA shelter system applications, and that the EA length-of-stay be shortened to six months, instead of nine.
With its current caseload, the EA system is expected to spend another $1 billion in fiscal year 2025.
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