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Mass. Republicans say it’s time to overhaul the shelter system. Here’s how they’d do it.
GOP lawmakers want to amend the "right-to-shelter" law, let police work more closely with ICE, and increase transparency from Gov. Healey.
Republican lawmakers announced a slew of proposed changes to the state shelter system and local law enforcement’s role in enforcing immigration law Tuesday.
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House and Senate Republicans said at a press conference that they want to amend the state’s “right-to-shelter” law, limit shelter stays, authorize local police and courts to honor ICE detainers, and increase transparency from the Healey administration. They are also urging the State Auditor’s office to oversee an audit of the shelter system.
The announcements come as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to retake office and oversee mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. At the same time, Gov. Maura Healey is facing scrutiny after it was reported that full criminal background checks were not conducted on all emergency shelter residents despite her orders.
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“The emergency shelter system in Massachusetts clearly needs a complete overhaul,” House Minority Leader Brad Jones said in a statement.
Changing ‘right-to-shelter,’ ICE interactions
What would that overhaul look like? It begins with changes to the “right-to-shelter” law, which requires state officials to quickly provide shelter and services to homeless parents with children and pregnant women. The state’s emergency shelter system has been overwhelmed over the past year and a half due, in part, to a surge of migrants coming to Massachusetts. Healey said last week that she was open to working with the Legislature to potentially change the law, arguing that it was not initially meant to cover the “waves and waves of people” that have come to the state in recent years.
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The Republican lawmakers said that the law should be amended so that people seeking shelter must first demonstrate “lawful presence” in Massachusetts for at least one year. This would exclude victims of domestic violence and those displaced by natural disasters. They also pushed for a six-month limit on all shelter stays.
Another proposed change would authorize law enforcement to honor ICE detainers for people with “violent criminal backgrounds.” ICE regularly lodges detainer requests with local law enforcement officials, asking them to maintain custody of people who were arrested for a crime and who ICE believes are “removable non-citizens.” But the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in 2017 that state law does not authorize officers to detain people based on a civil immigration detainer or to carry out the detention requests made by ICE.
“It is time we put the residents of Massachusetts first, we can do that by swiftly making a change to the right to shelter law to include a residence requirement. We also need to do better at protecting our communities, especially those living in state run shelters, from violent offenders with ICE detainers,” Rep. Alyson Sullivan Almeida said in a statement.
Focus on transparency
Other legislative actions proposed by the lawmakers include a requirement that there be a competitive bidding process for all elements of the migrant crisis response, and the creation of a watchdog unit within the Inspector General’s office to focus on the shelter crisis response.
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The Republicans said they need to see more openness from the Healey administration. They are pushing for monthly cost reports and briefings from administration officials, and want Healey to develop a plan to “scale down the emergency shelter program and transition to a more sustainable model.”
“Without the use of a crystal ball, I, and others, have been predicting these problems for two years and we should have been taking steps to ease the financial burden on the State long before now,” state Sen. Peter Durant said in a statement. “The time has come to lift the veil of secrecy surrounding shelter operations and I, with my colleagues, will not rest until these measures are in place.”
Finally, they want State Auditor Diana DiZoglio to audit all costs associated with the state’s response to the crisis. In a letter to DiZoglio, they blamed the Healey administration for not stemming the flow of migrants or implementing meaningful reforms.
“We believe that having your office undertake a comprehensive audit of the shelter program will help to identify additional deficiencies that have not yet been brought to light and will provide a blueprint for how to move forward in a way that best protects the interests of the state’s taxpayers,” they wrote to DiZoglio.
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In a response, DiZoglio told the lawmakers that her office is currently engaged in an audit of the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities that is examining issues around the emergency shelter system. DiZoglio said that she is legally barred from discussing details of the ongoing audit publicly, but will be publishing a full report when it is completed.
“During this incredibly challenging time, in which the shelter system has operated 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 wrote.
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