Gov. Healey taps surplus funds for state's overburdened shelter system

Weeks after the state's over-stretched family shelter system received a $250 million infusion from the state Legislature, Gov. Maura Healey says the program still needs about $224 million to make it through this fiscal year.

Healey has proposed using a state surplus fund to cover that gap, as well as half of next year's costs — which are projected at $915 million, according to a report filed Monday night with the Legislature.

The report says the move will allow the state to fund critical services "without requiring offsetting budget cuts to other programs to meet the spending requirements of the family shelter crisis. "

The state's transitional escrow fund currently has about $700 million, officials said. The money will go to overnight shelters, family welcome centers, school district reimbursements, workforce programs and municipal support.

There are currently 7,532 families in the emergency shelter system, according to the report. Just under half are migrants, refugees or asylum seekers.

Gov. Healey set a 7,500-family cap on the state shelter system in October, arguing the state's housing crisis and unprecedented number of families seeking help had driven the program over capacity.

Massachusetts has a unique right-to-shelter law that's guaranteed families protection since the 1980s. Now, for the first time, families are on waitlists for emergency shelter.

There are currently 306 families on that waitlist, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities said Monday. The current average length of stay for families in the system exceeds one year, according to the report.

Healey has emphasized the importance of work authorization legal clinics her administration has run with the federal government as key to moving families out of shelters.

Under federal law, asylum-seekers must wait 180 days after applying for asylum to file for work authorization. Over 800 migrants connected to the shelter system now have work authorization, according to the report.

The administration plans to file the new spending plan as supplemental budget legislation "in the coming weeks."

The report filed with the Legislature Monday is the first since lawmakers mandated more reporting on the shelter system as part of a roughly $3.1 billion closeout budget earlier this month.

Advocates for migrants and unhoused families praised the new reporting requirement after the 10-page document was made public.

"The fact that it is timely, that it answers all the questions — that is absolutely a positive development," said Andrea Park, director of community driven advocacy at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute.

But activists continued to push for the administration to set up an overflow site to accommodate families waiting for shelter

"We're terrified that there will be hundreds, very soon thousands, of families placed on a waiting list," Kelly Turley, associate director of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, said in an interview.

State lawmakers set aside $50 million in the recently passed supplemental budget for an overflow site, to be set up by Dec. 31. In a statement Tuesday, House Speaker Ron Mariano pointed out the report has no details on the state's plans for such a space.

"The House will review anything filed by the administration, and awaits additional information regarding plans to address the ongoing need for an overflow shelter," Mariano said in the statement.

The administration's report was signed by Administration and Finance Secretary Matthew Gorzkowicz and Housing Secretary Edward Augustus.

"Fundamentally, the crisis of family homelessness requires a multi-faceted set of policies," the two officials wrote. They say the state must keep funding shelters, supportive services, and affordable housing programs that "enable families to leave shelter and ultimately move on to stable housing. "