Better late than never.
A $425 million spending bill to fund state-run shelters includes a temporary cap on the emergency assistance program at 4,000 families starting next year and would also allow state officials to block non-Massachusetts residents from the system anyone.
This would have been a great move to make about $1 billion ago.
That’s how much the Bay State splashed out in FY 2025 to shelter and care for waves of migrants coming into Massachusetts. Healey used one-time dollars from the pandemic to cover costs and kept returning to the well of the state’s transitional escrow fund.
But it was never enough.
Republican Sen. Ryan Fattman sounded the alarm last summer.
“We can’t be seen as a state where, whether you’re from South Dakota or South America or anywhere in between, you just get to come and we’re going to take care of you,” he told the Herald. “A society can’t work that way. There has to be rules of the road and we’ve had very few in this program, which has become an albatross financially.”
Six months later, Beacon Hill got the message.
“The reforms contained in this proposal will ensure that right to shelter is maintained by further capping the length of stay and verifying eligibility, while also enacting stricter background checks on those who enter the shelter system to better protect the families who need these services the most,” said House budget chief Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, a North End Democrat.
Background checks that should have been done from the start, before all the headlines of migrants arrested for assault and child rape pointed to the necessity of vetting those allowed in.
But the damage has been done, on many fronts. As the state’s slogs through tax revenue slump while it continues to cover migrant care, Healey’s been trimming the budget.
Much-needed services and programs have been caught in the crossfire, as the governor proposed closing two mental health hospitals and laying off half the state’s case managers at the Department of Mental Health.
Top budget deputies for Healey also said the governor is proposing to cut down the amount of money low-income families receive through the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition program, which provides emergency funding to help with evictions, foreclosures, and utilities. The move, if approved, would reduce the aid given to families by half.
Those pandemic dollars would come in handy right about now.
“I certainly understand, appreciate the importance of those programs,” Healey said. “But I also know that I have a responsibility to present a budget that lives within our means.”
The state wasn’t living within its means as it bled money to cover migrant costs. But the thought of cutting back on aid and keeping the right to shelter law as intended for Massachusetts residents was anathema. The spend it today, worry about tomorrow when it comes mentality brought us budget cuts that will affect our most vulnerable populations.
Finally, Beacon Hill is on board. Unfortunately, actions taken now won’t retroactively replenish our coffers to where they were in 2022. But it’s a start.
Days late, and $1 billion short.
