BOSTON — As he prepared to return to the State House's corner office in 1983, incoming Gov. Michael Dukakis invited his future secretary of health and human services, Philip Johnston, to his Brookline home for a heart-to-heart conversation about the future steps of the new administration. This meeting led to a decision that would change Massachusetts' approach to homelessness: the creation of the nation’s only right-to-shelter law.
Originally aimed at addressing the needs of homeless families, particularly those with pregnant women and children, the right-to-shelter law provided a framework for state assistance to ensure that families who needed housing assistance could receive it regardless of their origins. At that time, the homeless demographic largely comprised American citizens grappling with behavioral issues, including mental illness, alcoholism, and drug addiction—issues exacerbated by the closure of state-run psychiatric hospitals during the 1970s.
Under the Dukakis administration, Massachusetts opened three state-financed shelters in January 1983, and by the end of the administration, eight years later, the state had established 105 facilities. As of October 1983, the total homeless population in Massachusetts was reported to be 9,000.
Fast forward to 2024, and the landscape has changed dramatically. According to a report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Massachusetts saw a shocking increase in homelessness, with 29,360 individuals reported—a staggering rise of 9,512 (or 74%) compared to 2023. The challenges of the modern era are distinct, driven largely by a dramatic increase in housing costs. As Carl Alves, executive director of Positive Action Against Chemical Addiction in New Bedford, points out, “The cost of housing is increasing, but the income or incomes of people at the bottom of the financial spectrum haven’t been rising that much to keep pace with it.”
In the first two months of 2025, the median sales price for a single-family home in Massachusetts reached $580,000, marking a 5.5% increase from $549,125 the previous year. Additionally, U.S. Census Bureau data indicates that 27% of families now earn less than $50,000 annually. Meanwhile, the state has experienced an influx of migrants from Venezuela and Haiti, many of whom received Temporary Protection Status between 2022 and 2023 while fleeing violence and instability in their home countries. This influx has put added pressure on emergency housing facilities throughout the state, raising concerns about the perceived fairness of the shelter law to long-term Massachusetts residents.
The changing circumstances surrounding the right-to-shelter law have ignited a partisan divide in the state. Democratic Gov. Maura Healey, backed by a legislative supermajority, has staved off Republican attempts to amend or repeal the law. State Sen. Peter Durant of Spencer has been particularly vocal, highlighting what he considers the need to adapt the financially burdensome shelter system to better reflect current realities. "It’s been over $1 billion a year, and at a time when our budgets are getting tight … think about what we could do with that billion dollars. We could provide services to the commonwealth," he stated in a telephone interview.
Initial funding earmarked for shelters for fiscal 2025, which ends on June 30, ran dry by January 31. Consequently, the state implemented a $425 million supplemental budget that included tighter eligibility requirements for the remainder of the fiscal year—a decision that did little to quell Republican concerns about safety within the shelters and the Healey administration's ongoing failure to perform thorough Criminal Offender Record Information checks for incoming families.”
Gov. Healey responded to this mounting pressure by issuing a verbal directive in spring 2024 to vet families seeking shelter thoroughly. This directive came after a 15-year-old girl was reportedly raped in a Rockland hotel being used to house migrant families. However, Healey admitted that complete criminal background checks were not conducted in emergency shelters. In addition, state officials revealed that over 1,000 serious incidents, nearly 200 involving domestic violence, had been reported in the period from January 2023 to August 2024—clear indicators of the strain faced by the emergency housing assistance program as the number of families in need tripled.
As caseloads increased, concerns about the safety of shelters grew, particularly following a case where a man in a Marlborough migrant shelter was accused of raping his daughter. This prompted concerns from politicians over the shelter law's implementation. Logan Trupiano, the communications director for the Massachusetts Republican Party, remarked, "It’s gross to tell the truth" about the current state of emergency housing conditions, reflecting the growing frustrations among critics of the program.
In late January 2025, Gov. Healey urged the Legislature to implement significant changes to the right-to-shelter law—suggesting amendments that would include a residency requirement for families seeking shelter and enhanced criminal background checks for all applicants. As the legislative session unfolds, the discourse surrounding Massachusetts's unique law continues, with Gov. Healey leveraging a report indicating that this year, fewer than half of the families staying in shelters were migrants—a significant demographic shift compared to the previous summer.
“This was something that I inherited. It was underway when I became governor, and it only grew during the first year or so of my administration. I am inheriting the problems caused by federal inaction,” Healey explained in her defense of the shelter program during an interview with The New York Times.
Steve Kerrigan, chair of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, echoed this sentiment, stating, “Massachusetts has been left to deal with this issue because Republicans in Congress and Donald Trump have blocked bipartisan solutions simply for political gain.” Meanwhile, Trupiano dismisses such assertions, labeling them excuses. He argued that the right-to-shelter law has merely become, “a Band-Aid for a federal problem.”
Despite the growing dissatisfaction regarding the management of the emergency shelter program, Sen. Durant maintains that the right-to-shelter law remains vital and should not be repealed. He warns that without formal assistance, homeless families will inevitably end up on the streets, potentially reviving the conditions prevalent in 1983—a time when Massachusetts lacked a robust response to homelessness. The ongoing debate in the state underscores the complexities of addressing increasing homelessness, the challenges posed by migrant influxes, and the balancing act between humanitarian concerns and fiscal realities.
