BOSTON — On Friday, Governor Maura Healey’s administration announced the final hotel shelters for migrants in the Bay State closed ahead of schedule and ended the state of emergency.
Healey had previously directed all hotel shelters to be closed by the end of 2025.
“When we took office, families were being placed in hotels all across the state, and families were staying in shelter for months – sometimes years – at a time. There was no plan in place to reform the shelter system to handle the surge in demand, protect taxpayer dollars or help families leave shelter. We can all agree that a hotel is no place to raise a family. So we took action,” said Healey. “As a result of my reforms and our efforts to help families get jobs and stable housing, we have fewer families in shelter than the day we took office, and all hotel shelters are now closed – months ahead of schedule."
Healey declared a migrant housing emergency in 2023 when shelter occupancy reached its peak with 100 reported state-run facilities. Since then, the administration has been working to make changes to the emergency shelter system aimed at reducing case loads and costs.
Healey said the decreases in shelter numbers are a result of a number of reforms she made to reduce caseloads and the cost of the state’s Emergency Assistance family shelter system.
These include a six-month length of stay requirement, workforce training and job placement for residents, and increased case management to help families find stable housing.
In January, Healey announced that families staying in Massachusetts emergency shelters must be in the U.S. legally and must also undergo a criminal background check before staying at shelters.
Those were among the “significant changes” that Healey proposed to the state’s Right to Shelter law in January amid a migrant crisis in Massachusetts.
“We are deeply grateful to the frontline teams whose extraordinary work make all the difference for families,” said Housing and Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus. “The dedication of our shelter providers ensured that thousands of families had access to safe shelter and support when they needed it most. We also thank the communities and partners across the state who stepped up to help families in need.”
Massachusetts has turned to hotels and motels to shelter homeless families when traditional shelters reach capacity.
In 2014, 1,500 families were being sheltered in hotels across the state.
In 2024, the hotel shelter system cost taxpayers over $188 million, according to records.
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