Spending on Massachusetts shelters housing migrants and local residents climbed to $655 million as of the end of May as costs continued to mount for municipal reimbursements, upgrades to various facilities, and payments to providers, according to a report released Monday.
Only weeks remain before the end of fiscal year 2024, when the Healey administration has projected it will spend $932 million on the emergency shelter system and related services like National Guard deployments, overflow sites, clinical assessments, and intake centers.
Spending to date is “largely reflective of costs through mid-March,” the Executive Offices of Housing and Livable Communities and Administration and Finance said in a bi-weekly report of the $655 million shelled out so far.
A spokesperson for Healey said the administration has “taken extensive steps to address the fiscal and capacity constraints of the state’s emergency assistance family shelter system,” including approving a nine-month limit on stays and a monthly requirement to reapply for overflow shelters.
“We have also seen the number of families leaving shelter for more stable housing steadily increase over the past few months as a result of our efforts to help thousands of immigrants get work authorizations, jobs, English classes and rehousing assistance. Additionally, since the governor implemented the capacity limit last fall, we have seen the number of families seeking shelter each day reduce by half,” the spokesperson, Karissa Hand, said in a statement.
Nearly 7,400 families were residing in the emergency shelter as of Thursday, with 3,736 staying in hotels and motels and 3,651 in traditional shelters, according to a state-run dashboard.
The cost of the emergency shelter system has ballooned over the past year as migrants fleeing often unstable conditions in their home countries have sought refuge in Massachusetts.
The Healey administration hastily set up a large network of hotels and motels — some of which have since been consolidated — to supplement traditional state-run shelters. State officials have also turned to a handful of state-owned buildings like a National Guard armory in Lexington or an old prison in Norfolk to serve as overflow shelters.
About $674,000 has been spent on upgrades at those overflow shelters, including sites at a Registry of Deeds building in Cambridge and the Melnea Cass Recreation Center in Roxbury, the latter of which is scheduled to reopen to the public this month, the report said.
Many of the hotels and motels serving as shelters across the state are not staffed by providers as instead served by members of the Massachusetts National Guard.
Officials have spent more than $7 million on National Guard payroll for deployments related to the state-funded shelter system, according to the bi-weekly report.
Another $2.7 million was dished out on “additional educational supports for homeless student transportation and multilingual faculty,” according to the report.
Spending on shelters in Massachusetts has become a flashpoint on Beacon Hill, with both Democrats and Republicans cautioning that sky-high costs have put a strain on state resources at a time when tax revenues are less than ideal.
The issue has also become the focus of many Republican political campaigns.
“The commonwealth is facing revenue shortfalls each month, Massachusetts residents are leaving in droves, and billions are being spent on a federal immigration disaster. Yet, the Democratic supermajority continues to push for more government spending,” MassGOP spokesman Logan Trupiano said in a statement.
