State’s emergency shelter system predicted to cost more than $1 billion next year

As advocates protest Gov. Maura Healey's changes to the shelter system, costs continue to mount.

As Gov. Maura Healey’s administration imposes major new changes to the state’s overburdened emergency shelter system, officials are estimating that the state will need more than $1 billion to keep the current system afloat through the end of fiscal 2025.

That estimate, included in an Emergency Assistance Commission meeting presentation earlier this month and reported by The Boston Globe, comes as the shelter system enters its 10th straight month at or near capacity. Historically, the program has served about 4,000 families at a time. That changed over the course of 2023, culminating in Healey imposing a 7,500 family cap last fall. The number of families in shelters has hovered near that mark throughout 2024, with data showing 7,367 families enrolled as of last week.

Around half of those families are migrants who have a lawful presence in the country. Healey is continuing to pressure lawmakers in Washington to take action on immigration. She is now serving as a surrogate for Vice President Kamala Harris, who on Tuesday pledged to resurrect a significant border security bill that former President Donald Trump helped derail earlier this year.

The $1 billion estimate assumes that about 7,500 families remain in the shelter system throughout the fiscal year, along with the same level of services and four overflow shelter sites.

“The question really is, how much can we continue to afford? And you see the tab that we’ve been running up, and so that’s what we’re up against,” Healey said Wednesday during an appearance on GBH’s “Boston Public Radio.”

On Thursday, officials will begin implementing five-day limits at the state-run overflow sites in Chelsea, Lexington, Cambridge, and Norfolk. The state is not planning on opening any more. Those staying at the overflow sites will be required to wait at least six months before they can be placed in longer-term facilities in the shelter system proper.

At the same time, the Healey administration will begin to add priority to Massachusetts families with veterans or those who lose their housing due to natural disasters, a move that Healey acknowledged does favor residents over newly arrived migrants, per the Globe.

On Monday, advocates rallied at the State House to protest the new changes, saying that they will harm children and families.

Healey defended the changes, saying that funding and space constraints necessitate further action.

“We’ve got people here, who have been here, who also need housing, who have been looking for housing. We’ve got families that become newly evicted here in Massachusetts or maybe there’s a medical catastrophe in their family that ends up making them unable to work and therefore in a housing-insecure situation. We’ve got women and children fleeing domestic violence right here,” Healey said on GBH. “I’m trying to find a way to manage things.”

The $1 billion estimate includes almost $776,000 for the shelters themselves, with about $76,000 needed to fund the overflow sites. Money needed for staffing, municipal support, family welcome centers, work authorization efforts, healthcare, and other contracts make up the rest of the anticipated costs.

Healey signed a nearly $58 billion state budget bill Monday that allocates just $326 million for the emergency shelter system.

Lawmakers approved a request from Healey in April to use $175 million from an escrow account filled with surplus funds. There is $475 million left of the one-time use savings, and additional legislative authorization is needed to access the dollars. Even if the legislature does pass a bill giving the administration permission to use the money, the shelter system will be able to stay fully funded only through the end of fiscal 2025, next June. Future shelter system expenditures would have to come from the state’s general fund or other sources.

Members of the administration are working with lawmakers to communicate the need for further action, the Globe reported.

Healey said on GBH that Massachusetts desperately needs more housing, which has “added to the need” regarding the shelter system.

“For the folks who have come in, we’ve housed them in shelter, we’ve got them work permits… and they’re getting exited from the system,” she said. “But it has put a strain on us and that’s why I’ve begged for congress to act and do something on immigration reform.”

The number of families exiting the shelter system per month increased this year, rising from 196 last December to 342 in May.

On Tuesday, Sen. Ed Markey introduced new legislation that would “expand the federal government’s role in the reception of new arrivals.” It would provide funding for resettlement services that help newly arrived migrants and ideally take pressure off of individual states like Massachusetts.

Healey reiterated the state’s precarious position Wednesday.

“We’ve said, ‘Massachusetts, we are kind and generous people, we are also full here.’ As folks are assessing their options around the country, consider other places, because we are full here, and that continues to be my position,” Healey said on GBH. “I think honestly… it would be inhumane of me to sugarcoat what’s going on or what people would be facing if they come to Massachusetts.”