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State auditor in the process of reviewing emergency shelter system
The audit of the office that includes the crowded shelter system began in January.
The Office of the State Auditor is conducting a full audit of the agency that oversees the state’s emergency shelter system, which has been severely overburdened for months and could cost Massachusetts more than $1 billion to keep operational this fiscal year.
Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s office has been reviewing the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities for months, WBUR first reported.
A spokesperson for DiZoglio’s office confirmed the news.
“Our office is currently engaged in an audit of the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities that will, among other topics, examine issues raised to our office pertaining to the state’s emergency shelter system. During this challenging time, in which the shelter system is operating at full capacity, we have heard concerns raised by residents who want to ensure their taxpayer dollars are being spent in a transparent, appropriate, efficient and impactful manner,” DiZoglio’s office said in a statement.
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DiZoglio has made a name for herself by publicly pushing for an audit of the Massachusetts Legislature despite some serious roadblocks. A ballot question regarding her authority to conduct such an audit is set to appear in front of voters this fall.
The spokesperson for the auditor’s office said that they could not legally discuss significant details of the ongoing review, and that doing so would risk compromising the integrity of the audit.
“We, of course, will be publicly sharing the entirety of the report, including all findings and recommendations, upon the audit’s completion and the Auditor will certainly make herself available to discuss the report,” they said.
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A spokesperson for the EOHLC said that the review began in January.
“The Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities has been working with the State Auditor’s Office on its programmatic review that began in January of this year. We are committed to this continued engagement to ensure a thorough and transparent review process,” they said in a statement Thursday.
State law dictates that all executive offices receive periodic reviews from the state auditor’s office at least once every 3 years. This audit is not limited to the emergency shelter system.
The ongoing shelter crisis has roiled Massachusetts for more than a year. A lack of affordable housing combined with significant levels of migration pushed the state’s emergency shelter system to the brink. It reached capacity last November, and a number of overflow shelters were created to give waitlisted families a place to stay.
The Healey administration has deployed various tactics for freeing up space, from partnering with the federal government to get work permits in the hands of newly arrived migrants to covering the travel expenses for people with places to stay in other parts of the country.
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Officials took measures further earlier this month when they implemented new policies that reworked the formula for how families are prioritized for shelter space and limited the amount of time that families can stay in overflow shelter sites to five days.
The new rules were met with public outcry from advocates, who say that predominantly non-white families with children will be forced to sleep outside and away from basic services. Some families are eligible for extensions that could allow them to stay in the overflow shelter sites for up to a month.
Some effects of the situation were on display in Quincy in recent weeks. Migrant families without anywhere to sleep have been staying at the Wollaston Red Line station there. Volunteers helped connect some of them with a local church, which allowed the migrants to pitch their tents on the church grounds. Citing neighborhood complaints, and health and building code issues, Quincy officials ordered the families to disperse a few days later.
Healey’s message, that Massachusetts is out of shelter space, has not penetrated deeply into the communities of migrants waiting near the southern border for their chance to live in the U.S., The Boston Globe reported. Massachusetts is home to a significant Haitian population, and as turmoil continues to grip that island nation, Haitians are still eager to make their way to the Bay State.
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