Lawmakers continue to debate how to run emergency shelter system

BOSTON (WWLP) – A special commission tasked with making recommendations to improve the emergency housing assistance program met on Tuesday.

Over the past year, over 10,000 families moved through the Massachusetts emergency shelter system–a program that cost the state over a billion dollars in fiscal year 2024.

The commission aims to revamp the system to meet the needs of individual families and reduce the financial burden on the state.

The commission identified three core goals of the shelter system: to ensure that instances where families need to utilize the system are rare, brief, and non-recurring. In the meeting, commissioners said that around 18 new families enter the system every day, and between 400 and 450 families exit the system each month.

Most of the families entering the system at this point are from Massachusetts and need help from the state due to job loss, home fires, or other factors. Of all families in the system, Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll says about half are migrants, and about half are children.

The commission analyzes these numbers to make sure the system can expand and contract resources with the need levels of families. Commission members disagree on how much the state should help these families.

Some, like Senator Robyn Kennedy, spoke about compassion and using state resources to ensure families do not need this resource to begin with.

Others, like western Massachusetts Senator Ryan Fattman, think state resources should be used solely for Massachusetts residents. The commission's report and recommendations are due on December 1, and members are voting next week on whether their report is ready to release.

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