Connect with us

Massachusetts

Shelter policy is cruel and harmful – The Boston Globe

Published

on

Shelter policy is cruel and harmful – The Boston Globe


Last week, Governor Maura Healey announced a new policy that will drastically limit children’s and families’ access to Emergency Assistance shelters and state-funded overflow shelters. Under the policy, which went into effect Aug. 1, many families with children who are experiencing homelessness will be faced with a stark choice. Eligible families can choose to stay for five days in an overflow shelter (with very limited opportunities for short-term extensions) or remain unsheltered and hope that they quickly come up to the top of the waiting list for a longer term Emergency Assistance shelter placement.

If a family stays five days in an overflow shelter, they not only will have to leave rapidly (almost by definition before they have regained stability) but they also will be deemed ineligible for Emergency Assistance shelter for at least six months. Anyone who lives in Massachusetts knows that it will be impossible for most families who have nowhere else to go to find a safe place to live within five days.

The dramatic decisions by the administration to discourage families from accessing overflow shelters and to abruptly limit the stays of families who do choose that option are particularly punitive as the only families who have been able to access overflow shelters are those who state officials have deemed eligible for Emergency Assistance shelter after a rigorous application process and who the Commonwealth has placed on the waiting list due to state-imposed capacity constraints.

Last October, Healey instituted a cap of 7,500 families in the Emergency Assistance program, the first such limit in the program’s 40-year history. In November, the state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities began placing eligible families on a waiting list for longer-term shelter. Recognizing the dangers of unsheltered homelessness and the state’s obligations under the Commonwealth’s landmark 1983 right-to-shelter law, the Legislature intervened last December to require the administration to establish overflow shelters for families on the Emergency Assistance waiting list.

Advertisement

While the capacity of overflow shelters has never been to scale, these sites have been a lifesaving layer in the state’s response to family homelessness over the past year, keeping children and parents off the streets during the freezing cold nights of winter, through summer heat waves, and on the days in between. Indeed, there is never a good time to experience unsheltered homelessness in the Commonwealth. This can be attested to by the hundreds of children and parents who slept on the floor of Logan Airport for months until the administration worked to place those families in overflow shelters while barring additional families and individuals from accessing Logan as a place of last resort starting in July.

Before the Commonwealth terminates the first families from the overflow shelters next week, the governor should use the intervening days to reconsider and rescind this harmful policy. Healey should commit to having a dialogue with the families who will be most directly impacted and engage advocates, providers, and key legislators about alternatives that truly center the safety and dignity of children and families experiencing homelessness.

The Legislature should intercede to uphold the spirit of the state’s landmark 1983 right-to-shelter law by securing access to shelter for all eligible families, committing to providing the needed funding to keep the doors of shelters open, and making bold investments in the homelessness prevention resources, long-term housing, and supportive services that children, families, and communities need and deserve.

Families should not have to resort to sleeping in hospital emergency rooms, bus stations, train stations, airports, cars, and other places not meant for human habitation.

While state lawmakers continue to pressure federal officials to reform the nation’s immigration system and better support immigrants, refugees, and children and adults seeking asylum, the state must simultaneously stabilize rents, uplift communities, eliminate inequities, and uphold the basic human rights of shelter and housing for everyone who calls Massachusetts home.

Advertisement

Kelly Turley is associate director of Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless.





Source link

Massachusetts

Massachusetts AG Campbell accused of breaking professional conduct amid audit lawsuit

Published

on

Massachusetts AG Campbell accused of breaking professional conduct amid audit lawsuit


AG Andrea Campbell called Diana DiZoglio’s personal cell phone a day after an SJC justice moved the legislative audit legal case to the full court, a call that the auditor alleges violates the state’s professional conduct rules.

DiZoglio’s fight with Campbell is steaming ahead, even as the attorney general claims that there’s a “path forward” for the voter-approved audit of the state Legislature, over 15 months after 72% of the state signed off on the ballot measure.

DiZoglio’s office argues that Campbell’s attempt to call the auditor on her personal cell phone violates Rule 4.2 of the Massachusetts Rules of Professional Conduct, which prohibits lawyers from communicating directly about a case with an individual represented by another attorney without consent.

“The Attorney General is our state’s top law enforcement officer and should follow the Rules of Professional Conduct,” DiZoglio said in a statement on Wednesday. “I will not participate in dark, shadow conversations with the AG about this lawsuit.”

Advertisement

“That she is trying to get me to speak with her alone, via private cell phone, without my legal counsel present, is unacceptable,” the auditor added.

Campbell’s office is firing back at DiZoglio’s claim, which it says is a “false and baseless accusation.”

“If the Auditor is interested in a solution,” the office said in a statement shared with the Herald, “the AG is available to speak with her or the Auditor’s staff can speak with our office – but as it stands, her office refuses to engage with us directly on a path forward.”

DiZoglio and Campbell have been locked in a legal tug-of-war since voters approved the audit in November 2024.

Siding with legislative leadership, Campbell has claimed that DiZoglio has not answered basic questions on the scope of the legislative audit. The AG argues that the auditor’s review may also violate the state Constitution.

Advertisement

In February, DiZoglio sued House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka for refusing to comply with the audit. The auditor is asking the SJC to allow her to appoint an outside attorney, as Campbell is representing the top Beacon Hill Democrats.

DiZoglio spotlighted Campbell’s attempt to talk with her on her personal cell phone after the AG appeared on GBH’s Boston Public Radio on Wednesday. The auditor also released emails between the two offices regarding the call.

In her radio segment, Campbell admitted to calling the auditor after seeing her at a recent event in Worcester and that she had yet to hear back from DiZoglio. The AG said the message that she is trying to convey to the auditor is that “there’s a pathway forward.”

Speaking at an event on March 16, DiZoglio said, “I have only asked for financial receipts and state contracts. There is nothing unconstitutional about …  getting access to that information.”

Campbell argues DiZoglio has “changed” her stance on the audit’s scope.

Advertisement

Deputy Auditor Michael Leung-Tat expressed his concerns about Campbell’s call to DiZoglio in an email on Monday to Assistant Attorney General Anne Sterman and First Assistant Attorney General Pat Moore.

Leung-Tat emphasized that the last time DiZoglio and Campbell spoke via phone was allegedly in November 2023, when the AG informed the auditor of her support of the legislative audit.

“They don’t have a relationship beyond our office’s official communications,” Leung-Tat wrote, “and, as you know, official business between our offices is conducted at the staff level. … it appears that the Attorney General was calling the Auditor about the pending litigation before the SJC.”

“As you are aware,” the deputy auditor added, “we have been engaged with your office seeking assistance in our efforts to audit the Legislature since 2023, so it is curious that the Attorney General only just now decided to call.

In an email reply, Moore said there was “nothing unethical” about Campbell’s call and that the AGO was “surprised to see” the auditor’s “unfounded assertion.”

Advertisement

“The Auditor has also used her time in those forums make false allegations against the Attorney General and officers of every other branch of state government, recently including judges,” Moore wrote. “Having now heard multiple variations of these comments, the Attorney General felt it appropriate to reach to talk with the Auditor.”

After multiple exchanges back and forth, Moore refuted Leung-Tat’s claims that DiZoglio has answered Campbell’s questions to help the legislative audit proceed. The first assistant AG added that the office “takes pride in our professionalism.”

“We do not, just to pick one example,” Moore wrote, “claim that every state agency funded by legislative appropriation is corrupt; nor that the courts adjudicating our cases are.”

“Nor do we take exception to conferring with those against whom we are litigating,” he added. “We do that every day.”

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Massachusetts

Massachusetts faces World Cup-test with friendly match in Foxboro

Published

on

Massachusetts faces World Cup-test with friendly match in Foxboro


Massachusetts will get a taste of World Cup action in Foxboro on Thursday.

There is a friendly match between Brazil and France at Gillette Stadium.

It’s being considered a test ahead of World Cup matches in June.

Massachusetts governor Maura Healey says dozens of agencies are involved in making sure the 7 World Cup matches are safe and secure.

Advertisement

Thursday is a test for transportation for the World Cup.

The MBTA will have 4 trains going from South Station to Foxboro.

MassDOT expects heavy traffic to begin later this morning with new traffic patterns near Gillette for the match.

As for the teams, NBC 10 caught up with Team France at their practice.

Team France says it is excited to face off against one of the best teams in the world.

Advertisement

France is ranked 3rd worldwide while Brazil is ranked 5th.

Parking opens at noon while the game’s kickoff is at 4:00 p.m.



Source link

Continue Reading

Massachusetts

Gov. Maura Healey says Massachusetts is ‘match ready’ for World Cup

Published

on

Gov. Maura Healey says Massachusetts is ‘match ready’ for World Cup


Gov. Maura Healey spoke Wednesday about the public health and safety preparations it is making ahead of this summer’s World Cup matches in Massachusetts.

Gillette Stadium — to be called Boston Stadium — will be the site of seven matches between June 13 and July 9.

The state is carrying out planning and training with local, state and federal agencies on everything from transportation and crowd management to cybersecurity, public health, and emergency response.

“Residents and visitors alike can be confident that we are prepared to host a safe, secure and successful World Cup,” Healey said.

Advertisement

Healey said the state secured about $76 million in federal funding to pay for security and preparedness.

The state has more information about the World Cup at Match-Ready Massachusetts.

Comment with Bubbles

BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT

Gillette will host a friendly Thursday between France and Brazil as a warm up to the World Cup.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending