BOSTON (WWLP) – August 1st marks the start of shelter stay limits in the Commonwealth.
Governor Maura Healey signed legislation earlier this year that places a nine-month limit on how long families can stay in emergency shelters. There are certain exceptions for families who are pregnant, working, or need medical care.
The first families to receive notices will have to leave by September. Last week the governor also announced a new change to re-designate overflow sites into temporary respite centers and put a five-day limit on stays there.
Number of families in Massachusetts emergency shelters:
According to the state’s biweekly report as of July 25th, there are a total of 7,367 families in the emergency housing assistance program, 3,720 of that number entered Massachusetts as migrants, refugees, or asylum seekers.
Overflow sites in Cambridge, Chelsea, Lexington, or Norfolk have 340 families on the waitlist. According to the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, 128 families have left the emergency assistance program.
To date, $793 million has been spent on assistance in the 2024 Fiscal Year which includes the following:
- Shelter and associated services
- National Guard activation
- Clinical and Safety Risk
- Assessment Sites
- Temporary Emergency Shelters
- Family Welcome Centers
- Municipal payments
- Overflow spending
In western Massachusetts, around 769 families are being housed in emergency shelters.
- Acton 28
- Amherst 5
- Andover 23
- Attleboro 13
- Auburn 71
- Ayer 52
- Barnstable 35
- Beverly 25
- Boston 1,310
- Bourne 42
- Bridgewater 4
- Brockton 179
- Brookline 33
- Burlington 32
- Cambridge 34
- Chelmsford 3
- Chelsea 19
- Chicopee 112
- Concord 100
- Danvers 182
- Dedham 176
- Devens 10
- Everett 102
- Fall River 95
- Falmouth 9
- Fitchburg 10
- Foxborough 88
- Framingham 201
- Franklin 90
- Gardner 42
- Gloucester 8
- Greenfield 59
- Hanson 1
- Haverhill 78
- Holyoke 173
- Hudson 49
- Kingston 100
- Lawrence 57
- Leicester 40
- Lexington 26
- Lowell 352
- Ludlow 1
- Lynn 307
- Malden 63
- Marlborough 156
- Marshfield 21
- Medford 41
- Medway 12
- Melrose 1
- Methuen 77
- Middleborough 11
- Milford 79
- Milton 2
- New Bedford 30
- North Attleboro 1
- Northampton 20
- Northborough 31
- Norton 22
- Norwell 15
- Norwood 87
- Peabody 249
- Pittsfield 17
- Plainville 52
- Plymouth 34
- Raynham 85
- Revere 28
- Rockland 51
- Salem 78
- Saugus 72
- Sharon 65
- Shrewsbury 78
- South Hadley 8
- Southbridge 1
- Springfield 289
- Stoneham 1
- Stoughton 235
- Taunton 189
- Tewksbury 30
- Wakefield 2
- Waltham 53
- Watertown 38
- West Springfield 85
- Westborough 78
- Westminster 31
- Weymouth 7
- Woburn 106
- Worcester 360
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