Massachusetts Gov. Healey declares a state of emergency in overwhelmed family shelter system (NHPR)
Below is an excerpt from an August 8 article published by NHPR covering Gov. Healey’s call for a state of emergency, primarily caused by Massachusetts’ oversaturated shelter system. Massachusetts Law Reform Institute’s (MLRI) Director of Community Driven Advocacy Andrea Park is quoted.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey declared a state of emergency Tuesday to address the record number of households seeking help from the state-run family shelter system, including many new immigrants and refugees.
She also called on the community to act with a sense of urgency, including donating to a new fund for family assistance and asking residents to open their homes to homeless families.
As of Monday, the shelter system, officially called Emergency Assistance, was serving 5,550 families, or more than 20,000 people.
“It’s more families than our state has ever served, exponentially more,” Healey told reporters and advocates at the State House. She noted that the number of families in the state shelter system has increased roughly 80% since this time last year. “It’s unsustainable,” Healey said.
Read more at NHPR.
