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BOSTON (State House News Service) — The day before dozens of families are scheduled to be evicted from Massachusetts shelters, protestors plan to hold a vigil at the State House Thursday over new restrictions Gov. Maura Healey made to the family shelter system.
Healey's latest shelter policies limit families to spending a maximum of five business days at overflow sites and makes those people ineligible for longer-term emergency family shelter system stays for at least six months.
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The new rules took effect Aug. 1 and also create a prioritization system for long-term family shelters that favors Massachusetts residents over recently arrived immigrant families.
Anti-homelessness and immigrant advocacy groups strongly oppose the new regulations. Thursday afternoon's State House rally comes after a full week of smaller demonstrations in front of the governor's office; the release of a letter signed by dozens of advocacy groups, medical professionals and social workers; and another well-attended rally last week where protestors called the new guidelines "cruel."
House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka have both said they stand behind Healey's decision.
The administration has notified 57 families, who arrived prior to Aug. 1, that they will have to leave by Friday. Some of these families have been "reticketed," a term the administration has used to describe paying for plane tickets out of Massachusetts.
"Because of the circumstances and really our capacity here, we had to make some changes to policy. But, you know, I've said from the beginning that we are going to continue to triage this," Healey told reporters Wednesday.
During their daily standouts in front of Healey's office, advocates have held signs that said "Gov Healey: Don't Put Children on the Streets" and "Housing is a Human Right."
One of the organizers, Carolyn Chou of Homes for All Massachusetts, said it was hypocritical for Healey and lawmakers to be celebrating the signing of a new housing bond authorization earlier at a press conference this week, as families pack up their items to leave shelters.
"I was at Wollaston Station on Friday night and there were a dozen children sleeping on the street. It certainly feels at odds for the state to pat itself on the back, given the situation folks are in," she said.
Healey held a celebratory bill-signing event on Tuesday with hundreds of attendees, where she, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, Housing Committee co-chairs Rep. Jim Arciero and Sen. Lydia Edwards touted the bill as historic, but also a first step in addressing the state's housing crisis.
"We don't forget people sleeping outside. We don't forget about the people at Mass. and Cass. We don't forget about the people who are at the airport. We don't forget about people working two or three jobs and watching their rent go up. We have not forgotten you. And that's -- I don't want anyone to see this crowd of people celebrating and think the mission is accomplished. Absolutely not," Edwards said during her remarks at the bill signing.
Chou said the crisis of high-demand for emergency shelter is caused by the lack of affordable and available housing in Massachusetts, and that putting tighter restrictions on shelter doesn't create new housing options for families.
"This is a housing crisis, and we know that part of the reason folks are in shelter for so long is because they can't find an affordable place to rent. We certainly are disturbed by the news of officials chipping away at the right to shelter. And it's disappointing for the state to be touting its work over days and nights of working on this bill when more and more children are sleeping on the streets," Chou said.
As of Wednesday, there were 7,396 families in the emergency family shelter system and 271 families in overflow shelters, according to a Healey spokesperson. The five-day policy will be implemented on a rolling basis, so not all families at the sites will be asked to leave at once.
Since their announcement of the restrictions, the Healey administration has updated the guidance to allow providers to extend a family's stay by up to a month. A fact sheet released by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities to shelter providers notes that providers will be “able to issue administrative extensions for families who meet designated criteria” for up to 30 business days.
"We're focused on families that we've done case management with, that we can most quickly exit," Healey said Wednesday. "Working hard to get people work permits, get them English classes."
While in the overflow sites, which the administration is now calling "temporary respite centers," families will be able to access a host of services. They can work with attorneys to get authorizations to legally work in the U.S., access health care services, and get HomeBASE rental assistance. HomeBASE, however, can only be used to help families pay for rent if they are able to find a unit in the first place.
The administration said that housing assistance, work authorization applications, job placements, English classes and reticketing has led to an uptick in the number of families leaving shelter over the past few months, with over 600 families leaving between June and July.
"We need to make space available for families here in Massachusetts who come on hard times, maybe have a medical injury in their family that keeps them from work and keeps them from being able to pay rent, and therefore they become homeless. I think about victims of domestic violence who are fleeing with their kids and need a place to go," Healey said. "I'm trying to manage this as best I can to make sure that we are dealing with the capacity constraints and also prioritizing the most vulnerable among our families."
The governor's press team shared a statement that once again continued the message she has been pushing for the last few months: There's no more room in Massachusetts.
"This new policy will help open up space at temporary respite centers so that families have a place to stay while they work with case managers to identify alternative housing," the statement says. "Massachusetts is out of shelter space and cannot continue to afford the size of this system."
Written by Sam Drysdale/SHNS
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