Bay State taxpayers are forking over an average of $3,823 a week for each family in emergency shelter.
That’s according to MassFiscal after the Herald reported earlier this week the FY25 bill for the shelter system was just shy of $900 million — with the total expected to increase to nearly $1 billion.
This comes as the state’s Right to Shelter Law has drawn illegal immigrants to our state in record numbers. Yes, the law has been around for decades, but nobody on Beacon Hill was smart enough — or should we say fiscally conservative enough — to dump that law during the crisis at the Southern Border.
Why is Massachusetts always the destination of choice for anyone and everyone seeking a handout?
“The fact that we are paying an average of $3,823 a week for each family in emergency shelter without scrambling for deep reforms of our emergency shelter law and other generous benefits is insulting to the taxpayers of our state,” said Paul Diego Craney, executive director of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.
He’s right, and he keeps making excellent points, such as:
“If you don’t think the average working Massachusetts family could use that kind of money each week after working hard and paying their taxes their whole lives, as opposed to just arriving here, you’re an elitist,” Craney added. “The taxpayers deserve much more from their elected officials than continuing to use their money to fund a system filled with corruption and report after report of the bad actors plaguing the system.”
Taxpayers are on track to shell out more than $1.8 billion over the last two fiscal years on shelters housing homeless families with children and pregnant women. An influx of migrants in 2022, 2023, and 2024 spiked demand, but caseloads have fallen significantly since January.
In a report from Healey’s budget and housing offices, officials said the tally for state spending on the shelter system in fiscal year 2025 was up to roughly $897.5 million as of July 10. Total spending for the fiscal year that ended June 30 is projected to hit $970 million, the report said.
The Healey administration spent $758 million on direct shelter costs, including for the actual locations to house people, to pay National Guard troops to service those sites, and sites to screen people before they enter the system, according to the report.
Another $98.5 million has been spent on HomeBase, a housing assistance program that has seen a five-fold increase in demand since Healey took office in 2023.
Enough is enough. The governor inherited this insanely progressive Right to Shelter Law and she has been quoted saying she pleaded with then-President Joe Biden to cap the migrant overflow coming in from Mexico and elsewhere.
Yet, our delegation was too busy trying to secure their jobs in a Kamala Harris administration to care about what was going on at home. How did that work out?
What is left is a budget-busting system fraught with waste and crime. Many say that’s anecdotal, but even a few illegal immigrant rapes and drug deals is too many.
We can’t be the dumping ground for all of America’s ills. Somebody needs to think about Massachusetts taxpayers first, for once. Gov. Healey, why not start today?
