Baker administration warns of impending emergency shelter funding shortfall

By Sam Drysdale and Chris Lisinski

BOSTON – The Baker administration expects that the state’s emergency assistance shelter system will burn through available funding and no longer be able to guarantee spots for eligible families by late March, a deadline that one top lawmaker described as “a little bit arbitrary.”

Escalating a weeks-long push for an injection of state dollars amid an influx of families in need, top Baker administration deputies formally warned lawmakers in a letter on Wednesday that within 90 days, the Department of Housing and Community Development “will not be able to immediately place all eligible families into [emergency assistance] shelter.”

The executive branch will be able to continue operating its existing network of 3,500 shelter units, but without additional funding, it will need to cease efforts to expand the number of available shelter units, Housing and Economic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy and Department of Housing and Community Development Undersecretary Jennifer Maddox wrote.

“At that time, placements of new families into shelter will be possible solely upon availability of suitable shelter units,” the letter said of the 90-day deadline. “Without adequate appropriations to expand capacity, it is probable that the EA system will be unable to accommodate families who otherwise would be forced to remain in unsafe situations or sleep in cars, emergency rooms or other places not intended for human habitation.”

Gov. Charlie Baker filed legislation on Nov. 18 asking lawmakers to put $130 million toward standing up more than 1,300 emergency shelter units, offering provider rate increases, funding a central intake center for newly arrived families, and helping place students in local schools.

Nearly six weeks later and with one single session remaining in the House and Senate before the two-year legislative term ends, the bill is still pending before the House Ways and Means Committee, whose chairman told the News Service that lawmakers have several unanswered questions about the proposed spending.

“I would say 90 days seems like a very arbitrary number. You go back to the previous 90 days, and there was never a discussion about this before that point in time,” Michlewitz said in an interview. He later added, “We certainly have concerns. We want to make sure the funding is there when it’s necessary, but for us to make sure that it’s being spent appropriately and strategically, I think, is just as important as making sure it gets done before the end of the session.”

Michlewitz said his panel has “some unanswered questions on the process, on the process through schooling, on the process through housing” but declined to elaborate on his concerns.

Asked if the Baker administration has failed to provide information the committee requested or if he is frustrated by the administration’s approach, Michlewitz replied, “I think the fact that we haven’t passed the bill yet speaks to that question.”

Senate Ways and Means Committee Chair Sen. Michael Rodrigues declined to comment via a spokesperson Thursday.

Baker administration officials said in their letter that the Emergency Assistance family shelter system has been overwhelmed in recent months due to “both a challenging housing market for long-time residents and new arrivals into the state as a result of federal immigration policy.”

Over 2,000 migrants, primarily from Haiti and South American countries, arrived in the Boston area between May and August 2022, the state’s Congressional delegation said in October in a plea to the federal government for more resources to help local organizations deal with growing influx of people.

This summer’s stats show a significant increase in the pace of migrants entering the state — the Massachusetts Office of Refugees and Immigrants registered about 1,000 individuals in 2021 who entered the state as refugees, migrants and asylum seekers, the delegation said.

Baker filed the $139 million bill in November, which his office said would help agencies expand shelter capacity and recruit and retain workers. The bill (H 5394) was advanced to the House Ways and Means Committee on Nov 21, where it has sat since.

The legislation would create a $130 million reserve fund that, combined with another $20 million appropriated in the economic development law passed last month, would help providers meet the rising demand, Baker said.

The governor’s office said $73 million of the reserve would be used to expand the shelter system’s capacity by providing more than 1,300 additional shelter units — there are currently 3,500 in the system — as well as rate increases. Another $20 million would go toward standing up a temporary central intake center for newly arrived families, and the remaining $37 million would help place students in local schools through the end of fiscal year 2024.

“As a right to shelter state, the Commonwealth through its Department of Housing and Community Development is committed to providing safe temporary shelter to these families, while helping them to find permanent housing,” Baker wrote to lawmakers in a November letter he sent when he filed the supplemental budget bill. “To address the recent increase in demand for shelter, we urgently need to expand the capacity of the EA system.”

In their letter to lawmakers, Kennealy and Maddox said they believe the 90-day notice “underscores the importance of acting on [the bill] before the end of the legislative session.”

Michlewitz said it is “tough to say” whether lawmakers will vote on the spending bill before the term ends, at which point the legislation would effectively die, though he said he does anticipate the Legislature will “allocate a significant amount of funds” at some point.

“I don’t know exactly yet what the exact number is at the moment, but I do know we are going to take the steps to allocate these funds in the near future,” he said. “We need to make sure that we’re doing it the correct way and not just the expedient way.”

Michlewitz also pointed out that Gov.-elect Maura Healey will take over atop the executive branch on Thursday.

“We want to make sure that those folks have an opportunity to be part of the discussion as they’ll certainly be part of the implementation,” the Boston Democrat said.