right to shelter

BOSTON — Shortly before a court hearing challenging the Healey administration’s allegedly “rushed” changes to the shelter system, officials filed new emergency regulations seeking to enable a temporary hard cap on the number of families that can be housed.

The emergency regulatory amendment surfaced shortly before 2 p.m. alongside a related declaration from Housing Secretary Ed Augustus projecting that Massachusetts is already well beyond the funded capacity for its shelter system with even more demand on the horizon.

Augustus said the $325 million budgeted for the emergency assistance shelter system in fiscal 2024 “was intended to support 4,100 families.” The current caseload has more than 3,000 families above that level, creating a projected deficiency of $210 million before accounting for additional necessary spending on “wraparound services, school supports, and community supports.”

If the current rate of new entries and exits continues, the number of families in the emergency assistance shelter system would surpass 13,000 by the end of fiscal 2024, Augustus said.

“It is no longer possible to secure additional space that is suitable and safe for use as shelter beyond a capacity of 7,500 families,” he wrote. “The Commonwealth does not have enough space, service providers, or funds to safely expand shelter capacity any longer.”

Massachusetts is required to provide shelter to some unhoused families and pregnant women under a 1983 “right-to-shelter” law, but Gov. Maura Healey has been warning for weeks that space is about to run out.

With tensions ratcheting up on Beacon Hill and advocates aiming criticism at both Healey and the Democrat-controlled Legislature, the emergency regulations put in writing much of what the Healey administration has projected will happen starting Nov. 1 as unprecedented – and still rising – demand pushes the emergency assistance shelter system to its capacity.

The regulations empower the secretary to implement a limit if circumstances and funding indicate there is no more space available. The Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities would publish written guidance about steps it will take once the limit is set, including operation of a “shelter placement waitlist” and which families will be prioritized for quicker access to shelter.

Under the emergency regulations, officials could consider a family’s “medical vulnerability” as well as domestic violence risks, among other factors, when deciding whether to place them into shelter or onto a waitlist.

Healey first revealed the new emergency regulations around 11:45 a.m. during a live interview on WBUR’s “Radio Boston,” but the documents themselves did not surface until about 2 p.m. roughly half an hour before a court hearing challenging the administration’s approach to the crisis.

While Healey was preparing to answer questions on the radio, anti-homelessness advocates rallied outside the State House urging the administration to uphold the 1983 law promising shelter to certain families.

“A waiting list is not someplace to sleep. We’re telling families, with a waiting list, that their needs aren’t a priority for the state,” said Kelly Turley, associate director of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless.

Attendees at the event organized by the coalition and the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute took aim not just at Healey but also at House and Senate Democrats, who have not acted on Healey’s nearly seven-week-old request for a $250 million injection into the system that is about to run out of space.

“Legislators, you should be ashamed of yourselves. You’re supposed to take care of us. It’s your job to make sure we get what we need,” said Jiannina Tillman, a mother of three who twice lived in Massachusetts shelters.

Leading Democrats in the House and Senate have said they’re still mulling over the funding request with questions about the long-term outlook for the system. For now, they seem content to let Healey deal with the overflow crisis herself.

“Any temporary policy changes would be better addressed by the Administration through the issuance of an executive order formally declaring a state of emergency, as they have real-time information regarding capacity issues and staffing shortages, and are in constant communication with local officials during this rapidly developing situation,” House Speaker Ron Mariano said in a statement on Monday, emphasizing that he does not plan to seek changes to the right-to-shelter law.

Though most lawmakers have been hesitant to publicly discuss the issue, Rep. Marjorie Decker joined advocates on the State House steps Tuesday, where she called on the governor to halt the changes to the shelter system.

“Whether we have a waitlist, or whether the governor tries to end a policy of a right-to-shelter, is actually not problem solving,” Decker said. “Families, and particularly those with children, are still going to be unhoused, are still going to be unsafe.”