Governor declares emergency, calls for support for rush of migrant families

Gov. Maura Healey this morning declared that a state of emergency exists in Massachusetts due to rapidly rising numbers of migrant families arriving in need of shelter and services and a severe lack of shelter availability.

The governor said the declaration serves as a notice to the federal government and the Commonwealth that the state’s shelter system cannot sustain its recent rapid expansion, and that further assistance is urgently needed.

She said there are now nearly 5,600 families — or more than 20,000 individuals — in state shelters, including children and pregnant women. The governor said the number of families coming to field offices seeking assistance, which was 25 families per day in March of last year, has jumped to more than 100 families per day in July.

In a letter today to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, Healey pointed to work authorizations as a primary driver of the crisis, and called on the federal government to take urgent action to streamline and expedite work authorizations and increase funding to states to assist in providing shelter and services to families. She also called on Congress to address “outdated and punitive” immigration laws, and called on cities and towns, charities, advocates, faith organizations and providers to continue to partner with the administration to meet the need for shelter and work.

The administration recently launched the Immigrant Assistance Services program to provide case management, legal services and other support for families in state shelters. The administration said the first-in-the-nation program is providing an unprecedented level of legal support toward asylum, work authorization, and other legal steps to help new arrivals integrate into Massachusetts.

The administration said it is also working to establish “new and innovative pathways” for new arrivals to secure work. The state’s federal delegation also recently wrote to Secretary Mayorkas and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ur Jaddou, urging them to expedite and streamline the work authorization process.

Massachusetts is the only state in the country with a “right-to-shelter” law, which guarantees homeless families access to emergency shelter. Healey said “state employees and our partners have been miracle workers throughout this crisis, going above and beyond to support families and using every tool at their disposal to expand shelter capacity” by nearly 80% in the last year.

“But in recent months,” she added, “demand has increased to levels that our emergency shelter system cannot keep up with, especially as the number of families leaving shelter has dwindled due to a lack of affordable housing options and barriers to securing work. … Many of the new arrivals to our state desperately want to work, and we have historic workforce demands across all industries.”

Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll added that the state’s Emergency Assistance system is designed to be a temporary, emergency safety-net program.

“It is not equipped to handle the demand that we have seen in recent months,” she said. “We know what it will take to truly address the root causes of this emergency: rapidly increasing housing production across the state and implementing comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level, including work authorizations.”

Housing and Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus said his office has been able to expand emergency shelter capacity and support more families than ever before.

“But now we confront significant challenges,” he said. “Our service provider partners are stretched beyond their means, and it has become increasingly difficult to add new shelter units to our [Emergency Assistance] portfolio.”

MMA Executive Director Geoff Beckwith noted that the migrant housing issue has had a direct impact on more than 80 communities in every region of the state, and that local officials “are doing their level best to partner with the state” to respond to the crisis as it unfolds.

“In addition to working with state officials to make sure that the transitional housing is safe and appropriate, community leaders want state and federal agencies to step in to provide these families with the services and support they need to be safe and healthy,” he said. “It is appropriate for Gov. Healey to declare a state of emergency, and municipal leaders support every effort to muster the necessary federal and state resources to respond to this crisis.”

For questions or concerns, municipal officials can contact Alicia Rebello-Pradas, deputy chief of staff for legislative affairs, at 650-520-6852 or Alicia.m.rebello-pradas@mass.gov.

Information about how the public can help is available at mass.gov/sheltercrisis. Anyone who can offer assistance should contact the state at shelterhelp@mass.gov or by dialing 211, which will be monitored by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.

The administration also announced that the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and The Boston Foundation have launched the Massachusetts Migrant Families Relief Fund to help ensure that new arrivals in Massachusetts have their essential needs met.

The fund will:
• Rapidly deploy emergency financial assistance through a trusted network of human services and shelter organizations in Massachusetts to ensure that individuals, children and families have access to essential needs
• Fund livelihood opportunities and assistance
• Support community-based organizations providing direct services on already-stretched budgets and staff resources

The administration said the Emergency Assistance system has spread to more than 80 communities since January, added thousands of new units of emergency assistance housing, launched new shelter sites, and created Family Welcome Centers to serve as central intake centers to connect families with shelter and services. Despite these efforts, demand has continued to rise at a pace that the Emergency Assistance system cannot sustain.

• Link to the administration’s full press release