Massachusetts outlines ‘new phase' as emergency family shelter system nears capacity

A top Massachusetts official on Tuesday outlined what he called "a new phase of this challenge" as the state's emergency family shelter system draws ever closer to reaching capacity.

Emergency Assistance Director Scott Rice, who oversees the state's emergency shelters, said the system is currently at 7,439 families as of Tuesday morning and he expects to reach its 7,500-family capacity sometime in the next two days.

Families are spread out across hundreds of locations in 90 cities and towns in a range of facilities, from traditional shelters to temporary sites like college dorms.

"They are families and expecting moms. More than half of them are children, and they are here lawfully, with the knowledge and consent of the federal government," Rice said of those currently in the emergency shelter system.

With the situation expected to reach a tipping point in the next 48 hours, he announced three updates aimed at addressing the crisis.

First, he said the state will be activating an additional 75 National Guard members, bringing the total number to 375. They will provide further assistance at some of the hotel shelter sites and at a legal clinic next week to connect people in the shelter system to work opportunities. A second clinic is also being schedule for the week of Nov. 27.

In addition, Rice said the state continues to work to speed up workforce authorizations to help migrants support their families and ultimately exit the shelter system. Many have already been connected with potential employers, and the state is also urging other employers with jobs for people with limited English proficiency to come forward.

He said the state is also prepared to support families on the waiting list at welcome centers in Allston and Quincy, which will continue to provide hot meals, diapers, warm clothes and more to families unable to access the overtaxed shelter system.

Rice also announced that the state is also working with the United Way of Massachusetts Bay to provide $5 million in federal funding to create a program with grant funding for community-based organizations, faith-based groups and cmmunity partners to operate their own overnight shelters for those with no alternative. He said the state hopes to have that program up and running by the end of the week, with the aim of providing additional short-term shelter beds.

"My top priority, first and foremost, will always be the safety and well-being of families and the people of Massachusetts," he said. "And all of us together to meet this challenge of working on this situation in the future."

Tuesday's announcement comes less than a week after a Superior Court judge denied a request by lawyers representing homeless families in Massachusetts to temporarily bar the state from capping the number of families offered emergency shelter. The ruling helped clear the way for Gov. Maura Healey to institute a cap when the number of families hit 7,500. At that point, the state will create a waitlist. Those with the highest needs will be prioritized, Healey has said.

Critics have said Healey’s plan violates the state’s “right-to-shelter” law. Under the law, Massachusetts is legally required to provide shelter to eligible families through the emergency assistance program.

Lawyers for Civil Rights, a nonprofit based in Boston, filed the class-action lawsuit on behalf of three families on the brink of homelessness, arguing that Healey’s changes are being rushed into place without any public process or required notice to the Legislature.

Jacob Love, an attorney with the nonprofit, said in court last week that the proposed waitlist of homeless families is akin to a fire department “creating a waitlist for families with ongoing house fires.”

When the Legislature funded the program, it required the agency in charge — the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities — to give lawmakers about three months notice of any changes in case they wanted to intervene, lawyers for the group argued.

In her ruling, Judge Debra Squires-Lee said that under the guise of requiring the administration to notify the Legislature, she didn’t have the authority to prohibit the administration from exercising its discretionary authority to manage the emergency assistance program.

Healey said the state isn’t abandoning the right-to-shelter law but has to deal with shrinking shelter capacity.

Kelly Turley, director of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, warned that capping the number of families seeking shelter could force some into unsafe living conditions.

“We haven’t seen a large number of families staying in places like the Boston Common because we’ve had the right to shelter but we’re afraid as winter approaches that we will see more families staying in very unsafe places if the state doesn’t guarantee the right to shelter,” she said.

Healey has asked lawmakers to approve up to $250 million in additional state money to help cope with the demand. The House plans to steer more funds to the strained emergency shelter system as part of a spending bill it plans to consider on Wednesday.

House Speaker Ron Mariano confirmed the House plans but did not specify the amount that the House plans to allocate for the migrant crisis in its supplemental budget. The Healey administration supplied representatives with a "lot of information" that they'd been seeking about the governor's request for expanded migrant funding, Mariano said.