Homeless shelters in Massachusetts raise concerns as lawmakers consider historic limit to family stays

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Homeless shelter providers in Massachusetts are raising concerns as lawmakers move to pass legislation that would limit stays to nine months for the first time in the 40-year history of the state's "right to shelter" law. Massachusetts is the only state to provide families and pregnant women with a right to shelter, which has existed since 1983. The system has come under historic strain due to an influx of migrant families and a growing number of Massachusetts families displaced under an increasingly unaffordable housing market. The Massachusetts House of Representatives passed a new spending bill in March outlining a nearly billion-dollar plan to address the shelter crisis. The Senate passed a new version, requiring negotiations to work out their differences. Both bills would impose a nine-month limit on emergency shelter stays, but the sticking points include what kind of extensions could be given to families and how the proposals would be funded. Shelter directors hope that the legislation will include meaningful extensions past the initial nine months for struggling families, as the average length of stays for families in the system is nearly twice as long, about 16 months. In October, Gov. Maura Healey capped the number of shelter units at 7,500. Shelter leaders say the influx of migrant families has put stress on an already struggling system. Elizabeth Sweet, the executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy (MIRA) Coalition, said the federal government must improve its system for granting work permits to migrant families. U.S. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch emphasized the dysfunction in Congress over a bipartisan border security bill that was abruptly scuttled by Senate Republicans. While shelter leaders are concerned about the possibility of families being forced out before they have someplace new to go, they support the lawmakers’ efforts to find ways to address the situation as the system continues to buckle.

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