Homeless in RI: Massachusetts Gov. Healey requests change in unique “Right to Shelter” law

As Governor Healey prepares her State of the State address to be delivered tonight, she has also submitted a letter to the Massachusetts legislature requiring changes in eligibility to emergency shelter in the state.

Beginning with “I am proposing for your consideration additional changes to the Emergency Assistance Shelter System…” Healey notes the budget implications of the new regulations, saying the changes would allow the homeless “right to shelter” rules in the state to become more financially manageable by the state and cities and towns.

Massachusetts has the only mandated “right to shelter” law in the country which requires, without exception, that homeless individuals be provided emergency shelter/housing. This has ended, in the case of the recent influx of homelessness around the country, in the taking over of motels and hotels. The changes are seen as necessary to protecting the unique law.

Here is the letter to the legislature:

Earlier this week the Governor noted that she had “required” background checks be done on those being sheltered, and then learned that they were not done. Incidents of assaults, sexual assaults, robberies, and other crimes were increasing and shelter facilities were becoming unsafe for some, with over 1,000 documented as “violent”.

Speaking to people from Rhode Island who may have been evicted here, the old regulations call for Massachusetts to accommodate them – new regulations say they must be evicted in Massachusetts.

The Governor is expected to mention the proposed changes and why they are so important at her State of the State address tonight.