Massachusetts
Massachusetts emergency shelter spending topped $700M last month, report says
Massachusetts spending on the emergency shelter system housing migrant families and local residents has crossed the $700 million threshold, according to data released Monday.
Government budget writers have projected the state will shell out approximately $932 million on the emergency shelter system in fiscal year 2024 and another $915 million in fiscal year 2025, which began on Monday. The massive costs were spurred by an influx of migrants over the past year.
Gov. Maura Healey’s finance and housing offices said the state had spent $715 million on the emergency shelter program as of June 27, though the figure is largely representative of costs through mid-March.
“March invoices are currently being received and processed,” the report said.
As migrants arrived in droves to Massachusetts, the state turned to a network of hotels and motels to increase state-run shelter capacity for families with children and pregnant women. Housing people in those locations can often prove costly, sometimes running $300 a night.
Healey over the past year has approved restrictions on the shelter system, including a nine-month time limit on families’ stay, a 7,500 family cap, a monthly requirement for people in overflow sites to reapply for services, and just last week a prohibition on sleeping overnight at Logan Airport.
At an unrelated event in Lowell Tuesday, Healey said while the state is required to provide families with children and pregnant women with shelter, there is only so much room.
“It’s why I took action this fall to announce the cap and to establish a waiver,” she told reporters. “My position has been, we simply cannot shoulder this. It’s why I also demanded time and time again that Congress step up and act and provide relief to the state.”
Boston, Worcester, Springfield, and Lynn are playing host to the most families in shelters, hotels, and motels of the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts, according to the report.
About $210 million, or one third of the total money spent, has been paid to shelter providers who run traditional locations as well as the hotels, motels, and overflow sites, according to the report.
Another $24 million has gone to municipalities to help alleviate costs associated with an increased number of students from shelters, the report said. The state has also spent $2.7 million for “additional educational supports” like student transportation and multilingual faculty.
After Healey put a capacity limit on the emergency shelter system, those who applied for services were directed to overflow sites, including at state-owned facilities in Lexington, Roxbury, Chelsea, Cambridge, and Norfolk.
The locations were oftentimes unsuited to house families immediately and the state had to spend money to upgrade the sites. The report released Monday shows officials have spent $1.1 million to make “life safety improvements” at overflow sites.
There were 7,463 families in the emergency shelter system, another 417 at overflow sites, and 699 on the waitlist for placement as of June 27, according to state data and the report.
A separate report released Monday provides an update on an effort to move 400 migrant families out of state-run shelters and into stable housing by the end of the year.
Healey and the state’s eight resettlement agencies inked $10.5 million worth of contracts to stand up the program, which takes a well-known resettlement strategy used at the federal level with humanitarian parolees from Afghanistan and Ukraine and applies it to those in local emergency shelters.
Ascentria Care Alliance committed to helping 75 families in the Worcester and Greater Springfield area move into long-term housing and is expected to receive $1.5 million to do so, the most of the eight organizations, according to the report.
Five other groups contracted to help 50 families and are in line to receive $1 million while Jewish Family Service of Metrowest agreed to assist 25 families and is expected to receive $500,000 to do so, the report said.
Massachusetts
Is it really going to snow in New England tomorrow? Here’s what to expect from storm
We’re still on the good side of the forecast today. We’ll see a good supply of sun to start, then the clouds will increase and a few showers will sink down from the north in the afternoon. We still manage to make it near 70. (Yay.)
Tomorrow’s high temperatures, however, comes after midnight tonight — before falling toward Saturday morning. If you think that’s confusing, try explaining the snow that’ll be flying in the higher elevations across New England (with solid accumulation above 4k feet).
Yes, the weather is upside down for late May.
We can blame an intense, compact upper-level pool of cold air that broke loose from a larger pool near the Arctic Circle days ago.

The pattern across North America has dropped it in our laps for a day, with cold, rainy, windy consequences.
Rain, wind and… snow?
This will be a sneaky storm. Early on, there might even be a calm, bright sky (very) early Saturday morning. Then the clouds move in and the wind intensifies from the northeast. Gust will briefly peak at 50+ along the coast (40+ inland).
Rain will mix with snow in northern New England, and perhaps in the highest elevations of southern New Hampshire and central Massachusetts.
This also depends on the intensity of the precipitation. Heavier bursts of rain can drag down colder air aloft, helping the snowflakes make it from cloud base to your home place (if you live above 1k feet).
Ironically, we’re not expecting a deluge from this storm. Most spots keep near a half inch, with higher amounts near an inch in northeast Mass./southern NH.
And then just like that, it’s over. The storm pulls away Saturday evening, the skies clear and we’re back to sun Sunday. Highs recover to near 70 with the slightest chance for a shower late day.
Better chances – and cooler temps – come both Monday and Tuesday.
Will summer ever take hold? We know from past years that June can really struggle. It appears that the start of the month may not live up to expectations. Although we are at least climbing back to the 80s late next week.
Have a good weekend.
Massachusetts
Massachusetts Top Cop Off the Hook for Secret Recording Program
The head of the Massachusetts State Police can’t be sued for an alleged program that secretly recorded officers’ phone conversations with civilians and used them to bring criminal charges, the First Circuit said Thursday.
A group of Massachusetts residents filed a putative class against against Superintendent Geoffrey Noble, as well as Motorola and other companies, over the secret recordings, which were used to propose criminal charges in at least 181 cases without prosecutors’ knowledge, the three judge panel said.
The opinion by Circuit Judge Seth Aframe said the residents, led by Jason Courtemanche, failed to show how they’d be directly …
Massachusetts
How Hard Health Care Hits MA Family Budgets
Massachusetts families are spending 8% of their monthly income on health care, according to a new study. That puts the Bay State toward the higher end of the scale, coming in at No. 12 in the country.
The analysis from personal finance website WalletHub examined where people are spending the most and the least on health care.
Alaska was No. 1 in the U.S., spending over 10% of their income on health care. On the other end of the scale, Utah residents spend 5% of their income on health care.
“Sharp increases in health care costs in recent years have made it difficult for some people to seek essential care,” WalletHub Analyst Chip Lupo said. “Even in states with lower-than-average health care prices, residents’ incomes may not be enough to keep up with the cost, especially since virtually every part of Americans’ budgets have been impacted by inflation over the past few years.”
To determine how much families are spending, WalletHub analyzed the prices of five key health care components across all 50 states, then combined those costs and compared them with each state’s median household income.
Read more: 1 MA Town Among 250 Best Places To Live In US News Ranking
Massachusetts spends the most on health care compared to other states in the region, according to the study. Vermont is the next-highest state in the Northeast, ranking at No. 14 with residents spending 7.98% of their income on health care.
Here are the top 10 states where people are spending the most on health care:
- Alaska
- Oregon
- Maine
- Mississippi
- West Virginia
- New Mexico
- North Carolina
- Montana
- South Dakota
- Louisiana
Check out the full study at WalletHub.
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