Boston - The Healey-Driscoll Administration is today announcing upcoming changes to the state’s Emergency Assistance (EA) family shelter system to lower costs and help more families find stable, permanent housing. The changes will help manage costs, phase out the use of hotels, focus resources where they are most impactful to serve more families while reducing the number of shelter units, and better meet the immediate needs of individual families. These changes align with the recommendations of the Special Commission on Emergency Housing Assistance Programs.

Over the past year and a half, the administration has taken extensive efforts to control the size and cost of the family shelter system. Without these efforts, the system was projected to reach 13,000 families by June 2024 and would be even larger today. Instead, the EA system has remained steady around 7,500 families. Additionally, up to 40 families were seeking shelter per day. In recent months, that average has been closer to 15-18 families per day, and approximately 65 percent are long-term Massachusetts families.

Since November 2023, the administration has helped more than 6,100 shelter residents get work authorizations, more than 4,300 shelter residents have gotten jobs, and more than 1,550 shelter residents have enrolled in ESOL classes. These efforts have helped more than 3,800 families exit shelter in the past year, and early 350 families have successfully exited temporary respite centers (TRCs) since August 1. In addition to exits, more than 700 families have been diverted from EA shelter in the past year due to investment in services that help families avoid shelter and quickly get back on their feet.

“In recent years, the state’s family shelter system has grown to be increasingly unsustainable. We've taken significant action to rein in its growth, and we’ve seen tangible results. The size of the system has remained stable for the past year, we no longer have families relying on Emergency Departments or the airport for shelter, and all shelter sites currently have a service provider instead of relying on the National Guard,” said Governor Maura Healey. “More needs to be done so that Massachusetts taxpayers do not continue to be on the hook for this federal problem. The changes we are making will reduce costs, phase out the use of hotels and better meet the needs of all families."

“As Chair of the Special Commission on Emergency Housing Assistance Programs, I heard clearly a consensus around making shelter brief, rare and non-recurring,” said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. “Our administration is taking the guiding principles set out by that bipartisan Commission and applying them to policy changes that will ensure we no longer have a one-size-fits-all system. This will better allow us to meet the unique needs of families, help them get into stable housing more quickly and lower the cost to the state.”

Providing shelter models that match family needs

Beginning December 10, families will be assessed according to their risk and need and directed to either the system’s Rapid Shelter Track or the Bridge Shelter Track. Stays in the Rapid Shelter Track are expected to conclude in 30 days. Stays in the Bridge Shelter Track are expected to conclude in six months, pending legislative approval.

Rapid Shelter Track

- The Rapid Shelter Track involves thousands of families who have strengths and needs that position them to rapidly find self-sufficient permanent housing. They will be offered 30-days of intensive support at Temporary Respite Centers to receive assistance with transitioning quickly to stable, permanent housing – many with stabilization services available through HomeBASE – as well as assistance with and referrals for work authorizations, job placements and English classes.
- These changes will allow families to stay at TRCs longer, increasing the maximum time from five business days to 30 business days, with some allowance for extensions. This shift is responsive to exit data trends and feedback from providers and is more aligned with the amount of time needed to exit to safe housing, especially when leases are involved. Families will not be able to choose between tracks. Families who are given access to intensive services at a TRC will not be eligible for placement in the Bridge Shelter Track.  

Bridge Shelter Track 

- The Bridge Shelter Track is meant for more high-risk families and those with more complex needs that take longer to resolve to find permanent housing – they may be women who have a late-term pregnancies, people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
- Families in this track would be eligible for up to six months, pending legislative approval. The goal for families in the Bridge Shelter Track is the same as the Rapid Shelter Track – help them transition to stable, permanent housing as quickly as possible, as well as connect them with work authorizations, job placements and English classes.

These changes will prioritize shelter system services around risk and need. For example, if the parents are able to work, they will be better suited for the Rapid Shelter Track because having a job and paycheck will help them move into stable housing. If a family has complex risks or needs, like a long eviction history or barriers to work, they may need more support to find permanent housing and so would be directed to the Bridge Shelter Track. 

Phasing out hotels

Hotels and motels have proven to be the most expensive shelter model and do not provide an ideal environment for long-term shelter to help families get back on their feet. For example, many hotel rooms lack the space needs for services, which can be isolating and makes it more difficult for case management staff to engage with families. As such, the administration will be phasing out shelters in hotels and motels throughout fiscal year 2025 and 2026 and shifting to a more cost-effective and supportive portfolio. 

Hotels and motels will be closed in a phased approach based on discussions with providers. Families and local community will be notified in advance of planned closures. Providers will work intensively with families to support exits into safe and stable housing prior to a site closing.

Emphasizing exit and diversion strategies

The Healey-Driscoll Administration remains committed to lowering housing costs and increasing the availability of housing across the state. With the goal of helping more families find permanent, stable housing as quickly as possible, the administration will be proposing legislative changes to the HomeBASE program to increase the temporary rental subsidy. Under these changes, families will be eligible for up to $25,000 of rental assistance per year for two years. The current benefit is a total of $30,000 over two or $45,000 over three years. 

The administration is also expanding current programs to help families with one-time costs to help them move from shelter. In the past year, approximately 3,800 total families, including both Massachusetts families and immigrant families, have exited shelter, many with the support of HomeBASE or other state rehousing assistance programs. These programs reduce reliance on shelter by helping families move into permanent, stable housing, which is more cost effective than shelter.

Fiscal responsibility

The administration will file a supplemental budget that requests appropriation of sufficient funding for EA for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2025 to a newly created reserve account – the Family Shelter and Services Reserve. This proposal anticipates using reserve funding to cover these costs, rather than impacting programs that are paid for in the annual budget.  

The supplemental budget will propose to reduce the length of stay for EA shelter from nine months to six months and change the extension criteria to help families and EA providers rehouse more quickly, which ultimately helps families move to permanency more rapidly and helps the system serve more families. 

The supplemental budget will also propose to increase the amount of the HomeBASE rental stipend from $15,000 per family per year to $25,000 per family per year to better reflect current rental market prices. It will also propose to limit the benefit to two years to manage expectations as we help more families find permanent housing and reduce their need for shelter.

Site changes

The administration is also sharing some recent changes to current EA-related facilities. Due to the planned closure of Eastern Nazarene College, the Quincy Family Welcome Center will be moving to a new location on Hancock Street in Quincy in December and the Quincy Clinical and Safety Risk (CSR) assessment site at Eastern Nazarene will close. All high-risk families will now be supported at the current CSR site in Revere.

As planned, the Cambridge Temporary Respite Center will close by December 15. Staff are currently working to rapidly rehouse the families at this site. The Immigrant Family Services Institute (IFSI) has also started offering Family Welcome Center services in one of their existing locations in Mattapan.

Statements of Support:

Danielle Ferrier, CEO, Heading Home:

“Over the past two years, our shelter system has undergone unprecedented strain. In order to prevent our shelter system from seizing, the Healey-Driscoll Administration has worked tirelessly to implement practical changes. We must bring down costs and refine how the Commonwealth meets the needs and delivers services in order to continue sheltering families. I have watched and listened as Governor Healey and Lieutenant Governor Driscoll worked to balance ensuring that families are sheltered and staying ahead of a system facing an overload of demand, all while trying to envision and create a more advanced fiscal and operationally sustainable system. Heading Home stands prepared to be a continued partner in this next phase.”

Leah Bradley, CEO, Central Mass Housing Alliance:

“The changes proposed by Governor Healey respond to the Commission’s charge to make recommendations for the EA system to be financially and operationally sustainable, support long-term sufficiency for families, and have a regional response. The Commission asserted that shelter should be rare, brief and nonrecurring. These recommendations operationalize this assertion with an emphasis on prevention, diversion and increased assistance such as HomeBASE for families to obtain housing. We look forward to continuing to work with the administration and legislature to ensure families have the tools to more quickly obtain healthy, sustainable housing.”

Pastor Dieufort Jean "Keke" Fleurissaint:

“I am encouraged to see the tremendous progress being made to help families, including our newly arrived neighbors, find housing and fill critical jobs across the Commonwealth. The changes the Administration is announcing today will reduce the reliance on hotels as shelter and increase the ability of families to move into housing.”

Gladys Vega, President and CEO, La Colaborativa:

“As rental prices continue to rise, families across the Commonwealth are increasingly finding themselves unable to sustain the cost of housing. Many Massachusetts residents are a single paycheck away from homelessness. The Healey Administration's continued efforts to uphold this critical safety net for families is an investment that will positively impact our communities for generations.”