Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey’s administration has spent more than $800 million on the state’s emergency shelter program this fiscal year, and costs are projected to balloon to more than $1 billion by the end of June.

The Emergency Housing Assistance Program provides taxpayer-funded services such as education, legal assistance, healthcare, and public benefits enrollment to families in need. A June 16 report from the Massachusetts Executive Office for Housing and Livable Communities found that $679.6 million was spent on direct shelter costs, while $149.7 million was spent on related services since July 2024. Projected costs through the end of the fiscal year total $1.064 billion.

Almost 1,600 out of 4,088 families in the system entered as either migrants, refugees, or asylum seekers. State taxpayers are spending roughly $3,500 per week for each family, or $1,000 per person, in the program. Boston has the highest number of families in state-run shelters.

Massachusetts faced a rush of migrants during the Biden administration and had trouble accommodating them. The state government set up temporary shelters, many of which were or are at hotels. 

In the two weeks prior to the report, 599 hotel rooms were used by the Housing Assistance Program. However, the Healey administration “is on track to reduce caseload to 4,000 families and close all hotel shelters by the end of the calendar year,” according to the report. The total number of hotels being used by the program is less than 30, which is well below the peak of more than 100.

In a statement to the Boston Herald, Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Kennealy said taxpayers are “fed up” with “being forced to bankroll billions to an unaccountable, broken system that perpetuates the migrant crisis.” Fellow gubernatorial candidate Brian Shortsleeve said Healey “has abandoned the hard-working taxpayers for the illegal immigrants. This warped sense of justice is bankrupting our state and driving taxpayers and businesses away.”

In the fiscal year 2024, the Massachusetts government spent $894 million on the program. 

A report from the state auditor’s office last month accused the governor’s administration of approving “improper and unlawful” no-bid contracts as part of the family shelter system. The housing office failed to “adequately assess and act upon the increased demand for service, resulting in improper and unlawful emergency procurements for food and transportation,” according to the report.

Healey’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NR.