Legal aid group sues Mass. to prevent a waitlist for family shelter

Update Monday, Oct. 30: There will be a hearing in this case on Tuesday, Oct. 31 at 2:30 p.m. in Suffolk Superior Court.

Late on Friday, the legal aid group Lawyers for Civil Rights filed a class action lawsuit to stop the state shelter system from imposing a cap on how many families it can serve. The lawsuit claims the Healey administration is rushing changes that undermine the commonwealth’s 1983 "right-to-shelter" law.

On October 16, Gov. Maura Healey announced that the state-funded family shelter system was nearing capacity and would soon implement a waitlist, meaning eligible families would only get shelter when another family exits the system.

This year the shelter population has grown dramatically — more than doubling in size — and the state says it’s running out of space and money for the shelter system.

The waitlist is expected to take effect on Wednesday, Nov. 1, and there are no current plans for where homeless families will stay until a spot opens up.

“The idea that the state would turn its back on children in desperate situations, forcing them to live in the streets, in cars and in unsafe situations, is appalling to many in the state,” said Oren Sellstrom, litigation director at Lawyers for Civil Rights.

He said that when the legislature funded the shelter program, it required the state agency in charge to give lawmakers 90 days notice before making significant changes. So far, Sellstrom argues, no formal notice has been given.

“The process needs to be slowed down so that it can be rolled out in a deliberative manner and give the legislature ample time to weigh in and, hopefully, prevent these changes from occurring at all,” Sellstrom said.

State officials said they are reviewing the complaint.

Prior to the lawsuit's filing, a spokesperson for Healey said the administration is complying with the law’s requirements, including the obligation to give lawmakers advance notice.

“We have been in ongoing communication with the legislature as we confront the unprecedented challenges facing the emergency assistance program,” Karissa Hand, press secretary for the governor’s office, wrote in an email. She added that the changes “will not alter program eligibility or benefits."

Announcing the waitlist earlier this month, Healey said her administration is “not ending the 'right to shelter' law. We will comply with the 'right to shelter' law. That said, we are reaching capacity.”

In August, Healey announced a state of emergency in the family shelter system and called on the federal government for help.

The new lawsuit, filed on behalf of three families on the brink of homelessness, according to the complaint, seeks an emergency court hearing on Monday or Tuesday to prevent the waitlist from going into effect on Wednesday morning.