Healey officially ends state of emergency over shelter crisis

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Gov. Maura Healey first declared a state of emergency around two years ago, as state shelters became overwhelmed with migrants and homeless families.

Gov. Maura Healey announced Friday that she is formally ending the state of emergency she declared in August 2023 to manage surging migration and an overwhelmed shelter system. 

Healey also said that all hotel shelters across the state are now closed. The administration began closing hotel shelters ahead of schedule earlier this year, and most were shuttered by the end of June. 

The use of hotels was one tactic employed by state officials as they struggled to manage the shelter crisis. With immigration rising and housing costs as high as ever, the number of families seeking a bed in the state’s emergency shelter system ballooned in 2023. The state’s unique right-to-shelter law, which guaranteed shelter for families and pregnant women, complicated matters further. 

The Healey administration implemented a cap on the number of families allowed into state shelters, set up a waitlist and overflow sites around the state, and expanded workforce training and job placement programs in order to keep numbers somewhat manageable. The governor also led a push to put limits on how long families could stay in shelters and reformed the right-to-shelter law in order to prioritize those that could prove Massachusetts residency. 

The shelter crisis has defined much of Healey’s first term. Images of migrants sleeping on the floor at Logan Airport and outside MBTA stations made headlines, as advocates for migrants and homeless people criticized Healey’s actions. At the same time, costs for the shelter system rose dramatically. Residents complained about those rising costs and about local facilities being temporarily used for extra shelter space. 

The safety of those staying in shelters was also a major concern. Sex offenders were found to be housed in the shelters, allegations of rape were documented, and drugs and weapons were found. Healey said that she ordered full criminal background checks on all emergency shelter residents, but these were not uniformly implemented for months. 

Healey has maintained that the country’s broken immigration system is largely to blame for the shelter crisis and has repeatedly called on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform. 

The Healey administration said in a release Friday that the governor’s actions were directly responsible for decreasing caseloads and costs. The number of families in shelters is now lower than when Healey took office in January 2023. Since the start of this year, about 4,500 families have exited the shelter system, while only about 1,500 have entered it. Approximately 85-90% of families seeking shelter are now longtime Massachusetts residents, officials said. 

“When we took office, families were being placed in hotels all across the state, and families were staying in shelter for months – sometimes years – at a time. There was no plan in place to reform the shelter system to handle the surge in demand, protect taxpayer dollars or help families leave shelter. We can all agree that a hotel is no place to raise a family. So we took action,” Healey said in a statement Friday. 

“As a result of my reforms and our efforts to help families get jobs and stable housing, we have fewer families in shelter than the day we took office, and all hotel shelters are now closed — months ahead of schedule,” she added. “We’re saving taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and putting families on a path to self-sustainability.”