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HomeMy WebLinkAbout5069 961 Route 28 Harborside Suites Governor Healey Letter 08.08.23OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS STATE HOUSE BOSTON, MA 02133 (617) 725-4000 MAURA T. HEALEY GOVERNOR August 8, 2023 The Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas Secretary of Homeland Security Washington, DC 20528 Dear Secretary Mayorkas: KIMBERLEY DRISCOLL LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR I, Maura T. Healey, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, do hereby proclaim that there now exists in the Commonwealth a state of emergency due to rapid and unabating increases in the number of families with children and pregnant people — many of them newly arriving migrants and refugees — living within the state but without the means to secure safe shelter in our communities. This state of emergency arises from numerous factors, among them federal policies on immigration and work authorization, inadequate production of affordable housing over the last decade, and the end of COVID-era food and housing security programs. The need for action is urgent. The state of emergency arising from the shelter crisis demands that I exercise my powers as Governor to protect all the residents of Massachusetts, particularly those who lack access to safe housing. Right now, more than 5,500 families, including very young children and pregnant people, are living in emergency shelter and receiving supportive services from the state. Many of these families are migrants to Massachusetts, drawn here because we are and proudly have been a beacon to those in need. These families require help to obtain housing, food, medical care, education, diapers, and infant formula. Some are fleeing imminent threats of violence. They all have one thing in common. They are in danger of going without the most basic of human rights in one of the most prosperous places on earth: the ability to lay their heads down in a safe place every night with a roof over their heads and with access to fundamental human necessities. They have called upon us to help give them shelter and the ability to work. The people of Massachusetts have answered this call. Over 80 cities and towns across our state are hosting these families, including more than 1,800 families who currently are residing in hotels and motels. I am proud of the work that our administration has undertaken to keep many families safely housed. We have created thousands of new units of emergency assistance Dousing, launched new shelter sites, including at Joint Base Cape Cod, and we have created Family Welcome Centers to help provide services to those who need them. I am heartened that Massachusetts and our administration have used all means at our disposal to mare the right to shelter a reality and to meet our moral responsibility to house our state's most vulnerable residents safely. But these efforts have not been enough. Over the past six months, the demand for emergency shelter has skyrocketed. In March of this year, 68 families per day were coming to our field offices seeking assistance. By July, that number had jumped to over 100 families per day. By comparison, in March of 2022, only 25 families per day came to our offices to request help. Currently, shelter entries per month are more than double the number of entries per month during the pandemic and roughly one-third higher than pre -pandemic levels. At the same time, the number of families leaving emergency shelter for safe, permanent housing has dwindled. The number of families exiting shelter has declined by newly two-thirds since 2019. These trends are driven by many factors, including a confusing tangle of immigration laws, an inability for migrants to obtain work authorization from the federal government, an increase in the number of people coming to Massachusetts, and the lack of an affordable housing supply in our state. Although Massachusetts is adding shelter units every week, without extraordinary measures, we fear we will be unable to add capacity fast enough to place all eligible families safely into shelter. Even though we are currently spending more than $45 million per month on programs to help these families, our ability to create enough new shelter space and to provide necessary supportive services is falling short. Simply put, we do not currently have the tools we need to meet the rapidly rising demand for emergency shelter. This is why I am today declaring that a state of emergencyernergmcy exists in Massachusetts one that demands a response by all levels of government. I am directing members of my administration to continue to utilize and operationalize all means to secure housing, shelter, and health and human services to address this humanitarian crisis. To our partners in the federal government, Massachusetts has stepped up to address what sadly has been a federal crisis of inaction that is many years in the making. But we can no longer do this alone. We need federal partnership, federal funding, and urgent federal action to meet this moment and to continue to serve some of our most vulnerable families. I urge you to continue pressing Congress to take meaningful legislative action and separately, and importantly, use all available executive power to remove the burdensome barriers keeping people from getting work authorizations, address our outdated and punitive immigration laws, and provide much needed financial assistance to help states like Massachusetts address this national issue. These new arrivals desperately want to work, and we have historic demand for workers across all industries. To the cities and towns across the state, many of which have a rich history tied to waves of immigrants settling within their borders, I am encouraging their communities to keep welcoming those families who wish to resettle in all corners of Massachusetts. Likewise, to charities, advocates, faith organizations, and providers, I will continue to affirm both my gratitude for their efforts and the importance of their partnership as we help these families in need through this crisis. And I will continue to commend the people of Massachusetts for welcoming families into our community as neighbors — our collective compassion and inclusivity is what makes Massachusetts the exceptional place that it is. While this state of emergency continues, I will use all the powers granted to the Governor to issue recommendations, directions, and orders to address the shelter crisis. These recommendations, directions, and orders will assist with the protection of persons and property; expedite the use of state resources; facilitate requests for aid and assistance from federal, state, and local partners; and enable the immediate procurement and deployment of goods and services necessary to ensure a prompt and effective response to and recovery from this moment of extraordinary need. But such actions by the Governor, individuals, organizations, and communities are only a beginning. To respond to this crisis, we immediate federal intervention. Please heed this collective call to action, Only by working together can we resolve this humanitarian crisis. Sincerely yours, Maura (r. Healey cc: The Honorable Elizabeth Warren The Honorable Ed Markey The Honorable Richard Neal The Honorable Jim McGovern The Honorable Lori Trahan The Honorable Jake Auchincloss The Honorable Katherine Clark The Honorable Seth Moulton The Honorable Ayanna Pressley The Honorable Stephen Lynch The Honorable Bill Keating The Honorable Andrea Joy Campbell The Honorable Ronald Mariano The Honorable Karen E. Spilka Secretary Edward Augustus Secretary Kate Walsh Secretary Terrence Reidy Commonwealth of Massachusetts EXECUTIVE OFFICE of HOUSING & LIVABLE COMMUNITIES Maura T. Healey. Governor ♦ Kimberley Driscoll. Lieutenant Govemor ♦ Edward M. Au,-astus, Jr., Secretary DECLARATION — EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE FAMILY SHELTER Pursuant to 760 CMR 67.10, as Secretary of the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, I hereby declare that I have determined, as detailed herein, that the Emergency Assistance (EA) family shelter system is no longer able to meet all current and projected demand for shelter from households eligible for EA, considering the facts and circumstances presently existing in the Commonwealth. I have made this determination based on the following facts and circumstances: For the past year, the Emergency Assistance program in Massachusetts has been expanding at an extraordinary rate to meet rising demand leading Governor Healey to declare a State of Emergency on August 8, 2023. This demand has been driven primarily by surging numbers of newly arriving migrant families, high cost and limited availability of housing, and reduced exits of families in long-term emergency shelter stays. As of today, the Emergency Assistance program is in a projected FY24 deficiency and is expected to require expenditures beyond the appropriations from the FY24 General Appropriations Act, and beyond the supplemental budget request filed by Governor Healey in September 2023, to fund the contracts and services to support the number of families currently in the system. As further detailed below, further expansion is also unsustainable from a capacity and operational perspective. The FY24 General Appropriations Act appropriation for the Emergency Assistance program includes funding to support 4,100 families and approximately 4,700 units. As of October 27, 2023, there were 7,268 families in the shelter system. This reflects a 77% caseload increase over the caseload contemplated in the FY24 budget and is the largest number of families ever living in EA family shelters at one time since the Department of Housing and Community Development (predecessor to the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities) assumed responsibility for the Emergency Assistance program. The Emergency Assistance program line item, 7004-0101, received a $325 million appropriation in the FY24 General Appropriations Act, which was approved on August 9, 2023. That line item in the FY24 General Appropriations Act was consistent with the amount budgeted in the Governor's House 1 budget recommendation filed in March, and was intended to support 4,100 families. As of September 2023, when Governor Healey's supplemental budget request was filed, the number of families in the Emergency Assistance shelter system exceeded 6,100. At the current time, the line item has approximately $535 million in commitments to pay through FY24, based on current caseload of 7,268 families in the shelter system. This amounts to a projected FY24 deficiency in line item 7004-0101 of approximately $210 million, and this projected deficiency does not include additional resources needed for wraparound services, school supports, and community supports. At current rates of entries into and exits from EA shelter, the number of eligible families in shelter would continue to increase to more than 13,000 households in shelter by fiscal year end (if sufficient shelter units 100 Cambridge Street, Suite 300 www.mass.gov Boston, Massachusetts 02114 617.573.1100 could be found to accommodate that many households). With the average length of stay growing each month (averaging 13.6 months as of the first quarter of FY24), the pressure on the Emergency Assistance program will be long-term in nature, with the families entering shelter today expected to remain through FY25. The current rate of expansion in the Emergency Assistance program is unsustainable. Since January 2023, EOHLC has engaged in extensive efforts to increase the number of shelter units to meet the need. EOHLC entered into emergency contracts with service providers and sought shelter units across the Commonwealth, with shelter units located in approximately 90 cities and towns. Given increasingly critical provider shortages, the Governor called up 250 members of the Massachusetts National Guard to serve at shelter hotels that would otherwise be unstaffed, lacking coordination of services for food, basic needs, medical, and transportation. 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. The Commonwealth does not have enough space, service providers, or funds to safely expand shelter capacity any longer. For the reasons described above, I determine that the maximum capacity of the Emergency Assistance program is approximately 7,500 families. Pursuant to 760 CMR 67.10, EOHLC is directed to issue appropriate guidance to implement this declaration. This Declaration shall be in effect from November 1, 2023, to February 28, 2024 and may be extended Pursuant to 760 CMR 67.10. This Declaration shall be posted on EOHLC's website at Emergency Housing Assistance Pro rag ms Mass.g_ov. 10-31-2023