Balances fiscal responsibility to taxpayers with moral responsibility to Massachusetts families in need of shelter
(BOSTON–2/12/2025) Today, the Massachusetts Senate passed legislation to allocate $425 million to support emergency housing assistance for unhoused families across the Commonwealth. The bill adds cost controls and reporting mechanisms to ensure the state responsibly uses taxpayer dollars, while continuing to fund a system that serves Massachusetts adults and children in crisis.
The bill, S.16, will provide safe shelter and supportive services for unhoused families, establish eligibility requirements and time-limited benefits, and ensure program accountability to help protect Massachusetts residents.
“It is incredibly difficult to strike a balance between fiscal responsibility to the taxpayers and moral obligation to support Massachusetts residents that need a safe place to lay their heads,” said Senator Cindy F. Friedman (D-Arlington). “I am appreciative to my colleagues for participating in the uncomfortable, yet necessary, discussions on the amendment that I filed and that was adopted to ensure our most vulnerable families have the time to provide the state, and the outstanding Resettlement Agencies that support the state in this work, with the materials necessary to put them on a path towards stability.”
The legislation enhances the existing residency requirements for families in the shelter system, ensuring assistance is received by those who are Massachusetts residents.
Those in shelter would be able to stay for up to six months, and those families with young children, a pregnant person late in their pregnancy, or in other vulnerable circumstances, would be able to receive hardship exemptions to increase their length of stay. The bill requires verification of personal details to confirm that shelter residents are eligible for benefits, but through an amendment filed by Senator Friedman and adopted by the Senate, families would be eligible to stay in a temporary respite center while securing documentation to prove their eligibility.
The legislation ensures fiscal responsibility by including new guidelines for implementation of the shelter system intended to control costs and increase safety. It funds temporary respite sites for families in crisis for up to 30 days and requires adult applicants for emergency housing assistance to disclose prior criminal convictions before placement into housing. The bill would also limit or exclude individuals with serious crimes from receiving assistance.
In line with the Administration’s goal to reduce reliance on hotels and motels, the Senate’s legislation caps the number of families in shelters at 4,000 families, beginning on December 31, 2025, and requires that the administration submit biweekly reports to the legislature on the number of families in shelter. The bill phases out the use of hotels and motels for emergency housing by the end of this year and requires a report on strategies to prevent homelessness and promote stable rehousing.
A previous version of this bill having passed the House of Representatives, the two branches will now reconcile the differences between the bills before sending it to the Governor’s desk.
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