Changes to the state's emergency shelter program have some western Massachusetts homeless advocates concerned.
Gov. Maura Healey's administration announced Friday that families living at long-term shelters will have the maximum length of their stays cut to six months from the current nine months, for most.
Pamela Schwartz, director of the Western Massachusetts Network to End Homelessness, said the shorter limit will only put more pressure on people already dealing with a traumatic experience.
"To add a time limit to it, literally an end point where you are no longer allowed to stay in shelter, the additional stress and trauma is something that we can't begin to measure," Schwartz said.
Another change Healey — like previous governors before her — is to wind down the use of hotels to house families seeking shelter.
This worries Johnie Sanders, homelessness organizer with Arise for Social Justice in Springfield.
"A lot of hotels are packed with homeless families. So once that stops, where are they going to put all these families?" Sanders said. "They better start creating a whole lot of new housing and there's just not enough time for that."
Both Sanders and Schwartz said they are concerned the changes — announced as cold weather arrived in Massachusetts — could leave families with no place to go.
Sanders said it could be an especially difficult winter with the changes. Arise for Social Justice gets many calls from people with no place to stay, Sanders said.
“They’re at risk of sleeping in their cars, more and more families are doubling up, and there’s families who don’t have any type of solution,” Sanders said.
Many of the moves are aimed at reeling in the cost of maintaining the state’s shelter system. Officials have estimated the cost of operating it will be near $1 billion for the current fiscal year. Healey’s administration will, in the near future, file a supplemental budget to cover the next $400 million of that price tag, which will need approval by state lawmakers.
Schwartz said she believes the Healey administration is on the same page as her organization in trying to find stable places for families to live, despite some differences of opinion.
“This is an extraordinarily complex problem and there is no absolute good or evil,” she said.
Healey’s announcement came right after a commission set up to look into the issue released its final report, which included a number of possible steps to modify the shelter system. Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll was part of that panel.
