Mass. Congressional delegation pushes for more federal shelter funding

Saying Massachusetts is turning away migrants in need because shelters are full, members of the state's Congressional delegation appealed to the Biden administration Wednesday to increase federal aid and more equitably distribute it between border states and "interior states" like Massachusetts.

"Massachusetts has been placed in a particularly precarious position, with the Commonwealth recently announcing that it has run out of shelter capacity, forcing the state to turn away migrants in need," the 11 members of the all-Democrat delegation wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and FEMA Administrator Deanne Caswell. "Currently, around 30-40 families arrive each day in Massachusetts seeking temporary housing, but only 15-20 families exit the emergency shelter system on a daily basis. The discrepancy in these numbers has crippled the Commonwealth's ability to house and feed both migrant and unhoused families in need."

The delegation pressed for funding under the Shelter and Services Program to support states with large numbers of migrants needing assistance.

Massachusetts received only about $2 million in funding this year, the delegation said, going on to add that President Biden's "border supplemental" request for $1.4 billion "will not cover the high expenses states are currently encountering, especially interior states."

By contrast, state expenses are skyrocketing. Massachusetts documents estimate $264 million in projected fiscal 2023 state spending for family emergency shelter. In fiscal 2024, the state budget set aside a $325 million allocation for family shelter, but that money is running out and the Legislature and Gov. Maura Healey this week agreed to an additional $250 million allocation that officials say may only last into the spring of 2024.

Data published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency show that much of the money available in the Shelter and Services Program this year has gone to border states such as Texas and Arizona. New York City received about $104 million in the same tranche that directed nearly $2 million to Boston, according to the data.