With just days to go before the state puts further limits on families seeking access to emergency shelter, anti-homelessness advocates in Springfield, Massachusetts, are protesting policy changes made by Governor Maura Healey.
Attorney Catherine Ady Bell with Central West Justice Center was among a few dozen people Monday rallying outside the Springfield State Office building on Dwight Street.
Bell said the changes to the state's emergency shelter system are immoral.
"I don't know where the governor thinks these folks are going to go,” Bell said. “Massachusetts sort of cornered the market, so to speak, on family homelessness shelter and now to step away from it and to step away from that responsibility when there's nothing left to catch people, I think is shameful."
Shondelle Diaz, who lives in Springfield, said at one point she was homeless with her four children, and was offered emergency shelter in eastern Mass. She didn't go.
“We need shelter here. We need interim housing. We need the proper resources to provide to our homeless individuals and families,” Diaz said.
Starting August 1, Massachusetts families will be prioritized for placement in emergency shelters if they are homeless because of a no-fault eviction or because of sudden circumstances out of their control, that took place in the state.
Families with significant medical needs and newborns will be prioritized.
Those who do not meet this criteria will be allowed to stay in overflow shelters for five days before having to leave and find new housing. They can be placed on a waitlist for emergency assistance shelters that are already at capacity, which would mean their access into a shelter is unknown.
If families have no other option but to stay in overflow shelters past the five day limit stipulated in the new policy, those families will not be allowed into an emergency assistance shelter for six months.
A Healey spokesperson said there are approximately 8,000 families in shelter in Massachusetts.
“It is essential that families understand the lack of shelter space available before they travel here from out of state," said Healey's press secretary Karissa Hand.
Families who leave overflow sites will receive support from other diversion services, Hand said.
That includes "reticketing," which the administration describes as providing families "transportation to another location where they have friends or family or another option for a safe place to stay," and the HomeBASE program, which helps families experiencing homelessness pay some of the up-front costs that pose a barrier to new housing such as security deposits.
Housing advocates like Bell said she understands shelters are at capacity and funding restraints, but also believes this policy change won’t save the administration any money.
“We're calling on the legislature to stop this and to do what needs to be done to pass… policies that are compassionate, that are humane... because this isn't who we are as Massachusetts,” Bell said.
The State House News Service contributed to this reporting.
