Healey wants people staying in family shelters to prove Mass. residency

Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday proposed significant changes to the state’s 40-year-old right to shelter law, including imposing a residency requirement for families and ramping up criminal background checks.

In a letter to State House leadership, Healey outlined eight changes, such as requiring all individuals in a family to show they are a "a U.S. Citizen, a lawful permanent resident, or are here under the color of law." Currently, the rules requires just one member of a family to show this proof.

Healey's proposal comes a day after Republicans in the State House held a press conference to push for greater oversight of the shelter system. The governor is facing increased scrutiny as the cost of running the system ballooned to $1 billion annually and with recent reports of alleged criminal activity in the shelters.

The governor's proposal seeks to limit people seeking shelter from other states, including those facing eviction or substandard living conditions. Healey also recommends that people entering shelter must show documentation of their identity and state residency before being allowed in; she's looking for people to show "an intent to remain in Massachusetts" or proof they've been here for three months.

Kelly Turley, associate director at the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, said the proposed changes will compound the challenges families face to access vital shelter resources.

"The changes announced today, in conjunction with the recommendations that the governor is proposing in her supplemental budget requests, will really undermine that right to shelter," Turley said. "As you can imagine, families experiencing homelessness often don't have access to all the paperwork that they would need to prove ongoing eligibility for shelter because the very nature of homelessness may mean that they're in a crisis, that they've been displaced."

Healey is also looking to tighten background checks. Under current rules, an applicant is required to disclose a criminal conviction if it connect to an eviction that caused them to be homeless. Under the proposed rule, shelter applicants must disclose all criminal convictions in Massachusetts or elsewhere, and they will be subject to criminal background checks.

The governor admitted last week the state has not been running full background checks on people staying in the shelters. She has now ordered those checks to be done, in the wake of the recent arrest of a man on gun and drug charges at a Revere shelter. Healey also has tapped former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis to conduct a review and advise her on security in the state’s emergency shelter system.

In a statement, Healey said she evaluated the shelter law, and, "Based on that review, and in the face of continued inaction by Congress and no assistance from the federal government, I believe these changes are appropriate and needed to ensure the long-term sustainability of the state shelter system in a way that aligns with the original intent of the law."

Healey, who's been in the hot seat regarding immigration for months, will face lawmakers and the public Thursday evening for her second annual State of the Commonwealth address.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Senate President Karen E. Spilka said, "The Senate President recognizes the shared goal of the Administration and the Senate to balance our state's responsibility to support families in crisis with the need to responsibly manage taxpayer dollars." The statement also noted "our moral responsibility to keep families in crisis off of our streets," and said Spilka will work with colleagues to "review this proposal with the gravity that it deserves."

With reporting from WBUR's Lynn Jolicoeur and Walter Wuthmann