policy
Gov. Maura Healey is looking on state lawmakers to drastically change the state's unique right-to-shelter law as critics exacerbate safety concerns at shelters across Massachusetts.
Healey, a Democrat in his first term, proposed a series of legislative changes that passed in 1983 to ensure emergency housing assistance to families and pregnant women. Right now it's overwhelmed by the “waves and waves of people” which have arrived within the state recently, Healey said last week.
The changes include a family residency requirement and stricter criminal background checks, that are particularly timely after Healey admitted that while she ordered comprehensive criminal background checks months ago, they were never carried out.
The residency requirements could effectively override current law, meaning newly arrived immigrants is probably not eligible for beds.
However, the day before Healey's State of the Commonwealth address, the governor didn’t submit the amendments herself senior lawmakers asked including Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Ron Mariano to submit the amendments to be included within the emergency supplemental budget.
“I believe these changes are appropriate and necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability of the state’s protection system in a manner consistent with the original intent of the law,” Healey said in an announcement. “These proposed changes will allow us to continue to ensure the security of our system, help cities and towns address the needs of unhoused families in their communities, and put us on the path to a more financially sustainable shelter system.”
Families would must be residents of Mass. be and “show the intention to stay.”
According to Healey's office, it’s currently assumed that anyone looking for housing is eligible, meaning applicants will be accommodated before they supply the required documents. Now families must confirm their identity, residency and other eligibility criteria before placement, aside from domestic violence or natural disasters.
Their changes would require families to be residents of Massachusetts and “demonstrate an intent to remain in the state” through “independent documentary verification” or three months of physical presence within the state, their letter to lawmakers said.
Previously, residency was “proven solely through self-certification,” Healey’s letter states. Several advocates said the changes goal immigrants.
“How would you present these requirements?” said Dieufort Fleurissaint, referred to as Pastor Kekea frontrunner of the Haitian-American community. “I don’t understand how they can prove their intent,” similar to staying within the state, he told the newspaper.
The changes would also codify the policy for conducting Massachusetts Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) checks prior to placement. Currently, “the law does not regulate criminal background checks.”
Healey's handling of the shelter system got here under scrutiny after a person was accused of raping a 15-year-old girl at a Rockland migrant shelter and an undocumented immigrant was allegedly found with an assault rifle and fentanyl at a Revere shelter in December.
Another change would require all people in a household to prove their citizenship or legal residency status, versus the present standard of a single member, in keeping with a letter Healey sent to lawmakers. A “rare exception” can be households with a baby who’s a citizen or lawful everlasting resident.
Healey also proposed imposing a geographic limit on eviction eligibility, meaning only people evicted from homes in Massachusetts can be eligible for the protection system.
While Republicans are also calling for changes, it's unclear whether lawmakers will give Healey's approval
Healey's announcement got here the day after Massachusetts House and Senate Republicans held a gathering to put out their problems with the shelter system. Her changes included limiting stays in shelters, empowering local police and courts to detain ICE detainees and increasing transparency from the Healey administration.
Unlike Healey's changes, the MassGOP wanted people to exhibit a “lawful presence” within the state for at the least a 12 months. They also wanted a six-month limit on all stays in emergency accommodation, something Healey had already proposed late last 12 months.
In an announcement, a spokeswoman for Spilka said, amongst other things, that she “has long recognized our moral responsibility to keep families in crisis off our streets and will work with her colleagues to consider this proposal with the seriousness it deserves.” “
Mariano didn’t reply to a request for comment Wednesday evening, but reported state leaders had not committed to any changes.
Healey's office didn’t reply to a request for comment on whether and when the changes would affect those currently housed within the system.
Read Healey's proposed changes here.
image credit : www.boston.com