Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey seeks another $425 million for emergency shelter program; here are the details

Colin A. Young

BOSTON, MA – …..Gov. Maura Healey filed a supplemental spending bill Monday, seeking another $425 million from a reserve account to keep the maxed-out emergency assistance shelter program running for the next six months.

Healey’s office announced in November a series of changes that the state plans to make to further shorten the length of stay in traditional shelter sites and to phase out the use of hotels and motels in the emergency assistance program. The changes stem from the broad recommendations of the Special Commission on Emergency Housing Assistance Programs, which was tasked by lawmakers with curbing the surging costs to the system caused by an influx of migrant families to Massachusetts over the last two years.

The administration hopes the changes, many of which are included in the supplemental budget the governor filed Monday, will help reduce shelter costs to about $400 million from roughly $1 billion this year and last.

“We appreciate the Legislature’s consideration of this proposal, and we continue to call on the federal government to act on a bipartisan border security bill because Massachusetts taxpayers should not be footing the bill for this federal problem,” Healey said in a statement.

Healey also sent lawmakers a “fiscal blueprint” that lays out how the administration hopes to make the system more sustainable in the long-term, including a goal to reduce the system’s caseload back to 4,000 families by June 2026. The system has supported as many as 7,500 families this budget year.

The budget bill Healey filed Monday would draw the $425 million from the state’s Transitional Escrow Fund, a reserve fund created initially as a stash for a state budget surplus that has taken on greater significance in state finance over the last few years. Healey’s office said using money from that account is meant as a way to shield programs in the regular state budget from the possibility of shelter-affected cuts.

The supp includes financial assistance for school districts that have seen their enrollment rise with the addition of students from families in the shelter system, as well as aid to municipalities for the impacts of hosting unhoused families and family shelter sites in their communities, the governor’s office said.

Though she announced in November that she would, Healey did not end up proposing to increase the HomeBASE benefit in the budget bill she filed Monday. The administration said that further review, comparison to similar programs in other states across the country and conversations with stakeholders determined that the current offer of up to $15,000 per year for up to three years is sufficient.

Senate Ways and Means Chairman Michael Rodrigues told the News Service in November that Healey’s proposed reforms were “a movement in the right direction” but suggested that lawmakers may be interested in having a greater say over shelter policy decisions.

“You know, the Legislature hasn’t had its say yet. I’m assuming that the administration will be coming back for a supplemental appropriation for the EA system, and when they do, it’s going to be part of a robust conversation,” he said.

The administration said the approach it is taking with the changes “allows the Administration to leverage the remaining one-time funds in the Transitional Escrow Fund to continue to operate current caseloads in FY25 while proposed policy changes are considered and implemented.” The supp proposes moving the funding from the escrow account into a newly-created reserve account to cover EA shelter costs through June.

“Beyond FY25, the administration intends to move towards operational sustainability in FY26 and beyond, recognizing that there is not identified funding for extraordinary EA costs in the long term. The administration, therefore, anticipates once again proposing General Fund EA and HomeBASE appropriations in H.1 at levels consistent with the FY25 GAA and requesting reserve FY26 funding to support the system’s transition to sustainability. The exact format and timing of that request is under consideration,” the administration wrote in its blueprint. “If successful, the system will return to baseline caseloads and costs, and therefore operational and fiscal sustainability, by the end of FY26.”