The House plans to vote on legislation Wednesday that curtails families’ time in state-run shelters to nine months unless they are employed or in job training, with the top Democrat in the chamber arguing the reforms are necessary in the face of “challenging revenue conditions.”
The first major changes to the emergency shelter program this year come as House Democrats warn the system could collapse in the face of a $2 billion tab over the next two fiscal years, declining state revenues that have put financial pressures on Beacon Hill, and little help from Washington.
“Given the challenging revenue conditions facing Massachusetts, the lack of federal support, and the severity and ongoing uncertainty surrounding the migrant crisis, the temporary reforms that we are proposing are essential for the shelter program’s long-term survival,” House Speaker Ron Mariano said in a statement.
But the Quincy Democrat also wants his chamber to approve an additional $245 million to respond to an influx of migrant and local families seeking shelter, a move that would tap leftover funds from the pandemic to cover a $224 million budget gap this fiscal year.
The nine-month limit on shelter stays, which can be extended by three months if a person has a job or is enrolled in a work training program, will help exit both migrants and locals in a “timely manner after receiving ample support aimed at helping them to successfully enter the workforce,” Mariano said.
A pregnant woman or person with a disability could stay a full year in shelter if they are eligible for, but “unable to participate in” a job training program or unable to obtain employment, according to the text of the bill.
House budget chief Aaron Michlewitz said the average stay in state-run shelters is 13 or 14 months.
“And it’s been growing by the day, month to month. If we don’t get our hands wrapped around this from a logistical standpoint, financially, as the speaker said, it will collapse. It will not be able to be maintained long term,” the North End Democrat said.
Top Democrats proposed keeping the nine-month shelter stay limit in place until April 1, 2025 or when the Healey administration’s 7,500 family cap on the system is lifted, according to the text of the bill. The bill charges Healey with drafting regulations that “establish procedures for the termination of (shelter) benefits.”
But some are questioning whether nine months is an “aggressive” approach for families who have just arrived in the United States, barely speak English, and are searching for work.
Jeff Thielman, the CEO of International Institute of New England, a resettlement agency, said the proposal House Democrats put forward is a “starting point for conversation.”
“I can see exactly where the House is coming from, what they’re thinking,” he told the Herald. “I think we’re starting an important conversation here. Whether nine months is going to work, for many families it’s going to be too aggressive of a timeline unless they have enough job training, English training, and support finding housing.”
Senate budget writer Michael Rodrigues said the Senate will “take a good look” at the House proposal “and react with our own proposal.”
“Providing this assistance to migrant families is very expensive,” he told the Herald. “But I think there’s a lot of interest in trying to be creative in how we deal with that situation.”
The legislation sets up a nonrefundable personal and corporate $2,500 tax credit per trainee for companies that provide workforce training to those in shelter or at an overflow site. The bill also requires Healey to seek federal approvals for waivers to expedite work authorizations for migrants.
House Democrats also want the Healey administration to set up state-funded overflow shelter sites in “geographically diverse areas,” an apparent response to the Healey administration setting up overflow sites only in Boston and Cambridge.
“We want the burden to be spread around in different communities,” Mariano said. “It isn’t fair that one or two communities seem to be getting an inordinate amount of shelters located in their borders.”
Mariano’s proposal to shuttle $245 million in surplus pandemic dollars to cover the shelter system and associated services through the end of fiscal year 2024 diverges from what Healey first filed in January.
The first-term Democrat wanted to use all of a nearly $900 million account filled with one-time dollars to cover the shelter system’s budget deficit this fiscal year, pay down costs in fiscal year 2025, and fund a handful of housing production and preservation projects.
House Democrats instead propose using $10 million for workforce training programs, $3 million for migrant intake centers, $1 million for “supplemental staffing,” $1 million for resettlement agencies to connect families with housing and other services, and $1 million for early education programming for low-income families.
The remaining dollars would head towards the state’s sweeping net of hotels, motels, and traditional shelter sites housing thousands of homeless families and pregnant women, about half of which are considered to be migrants from other countries.
Mariano said draining the entire $900 million account would make it “easier for (Healey) to plan.”
“Right now, we want to make sure that we get the results that we want,” he said. “And by controlling the purse strings, we have a say in how this thing is gonna go forward.”
