Opponents protest Massachusetts family shelter changes

Sam Drysdale

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON,…..(Less than) a week before key changes are scheduled to take effect, anti-homelessness advocates rallied outside Gov. Maura Healey’s office on Tuesday, saying the planned family shelter rules will “put more and more families on the street as the weather gets colder and colder.”

Starting Dec. 10, the Healey administration will overhaul the strained family shelter system to create a new two-track system to place families in emergency housing. It’s part of a broader push that the administration hopes will make family shelter stays “brief, rare and non-recurring” and bring costs under control in a program that the governor says is “increasingly unsustainable.”

Families with less needs will be placed on a “Rapid Shelter Track,” and allowed to stay in overflow shelters for up to 30 days, up from the existing five-day limit. Families will receive “intensive” support at the overflow shelters to find stable housing, plus help with work authorizations, job placements and English classes.

Families who are considered more high-risk with “more complex needs” will fall under the “Bridge Shelter Track,” including women who have late-term pregnancies and families with members who are immunocompromised or have complex medical needs. Pending legislative approval, they will be eligible to stay in a shelter for up to six months, with the ultimate goal of also finding “stable, permanent housing as quickly as possible.”

Advocates associated with the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, Homes for All Massachusetts, UU Mass Action, City Life/Vida Urbana, Lynn United for Change, and Greater Boston Legal Services protested the new approach Tuesday.

Liz Alfred from Greater Boston Legal Services said the majority of families deemed eligible for the Emergency Assistance shelter program will now instead be steered into short-term shelters.

“You will be found eligible for shelter, and then you will never be offered shelter. This is many, many families. Just so that people are clear — this is a lot of people. This is the majority of people who are found eligible for shelter. They will never be offered shelter under this program that they are currently talking about,” Alfred said.

Families placed on the rapid track will still receive shelter for 30 days under the new regulations, but it is a significant reduction from the options afforded to families in need a year ago, who could stay in state-funded shelters for as long as they needed to get back on their feet.

Before the Healey administration began restricting access to shelter, families were staying in the emergency housing for over a year, on average.

“While we agree that shelter stays should be as short as possible, they should match the realities of the needs families have; the realities of the job and housing market,” Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless Associate Director Kelly Turley told the News Service on Wednesday.

The governor also announced last month that she plans to propose changes to the HomeBASE rental assistance program, making families eligible for up to $25,000 of aid annually for two years. Families can currently receive up to $30,000 over two years or $45,000 over three years.

That change will require legislative approval, which could occur after she files a supplemental budget in the new legislative session that also includes a potential $400 million request to continue funding the system for the remainder of the fiscal year.

Healey has said that proposal will also include another major policy change — shortening the length of time families can stay in “bridge track” shelter from nine months to six months. That nine-month cap was a new policy that the governor implemented earlier this year.

Senate Ways and Means Chairman Michael Rodrigues recently called the administration’s new rules “a movement in the right direction,” and predicted a “robust conversation” among lawmakers when the administration seeks more money for the program.

The administration is trying to wrestle costs of the EA program from roughly $1 billion down to about $400 million. That $1 billion estimate includes the costs of providing shelter, services for shelter residents, activating the National Guard, municipal payments, and other related costs.

The only changes going into effect this month are the reorganization of EA into the two-track system. The infusion of new funds into the system, shortening the length of stay and changing HomeBASE will all need legislative approval.

“There is no reason, there is no reason why this needs to go into effect in a week,” Alfred said. “This is just the Healey administration deciding that they’re going to do this, that’s the only reason.”

Carolyn Chou, executive director of Homes for All Massachusetts, pointed to the below-freezing temperatures outside.

“It’s going to put more and more families on the street as the weather gets colder and colder. In August we had families sleeping at train stations, and that was unsafe, but it was possible in August. That is not possible tonight. And so we cannot stand by and let this happen,” Chou said.

Though providers and the state will provide assist families while in the 30-day overflow shelters, Turley said it is not enough time for a family to find a permanent housing in the current market.

“Given the housing market and how quickly they can process HomeBASE applications, even 30 days is not realistic. Most families, even if they’re doing everything possible to exit the temporary respite centers, they won’t have a place to go,” Turley said. ” Most of the language seems like it’s blaming families if they’re not able to exit in those short time frames.”