Homeless shelters in Massachusetts raise concerns as lawmakers consider historic limit to family stays

Homeless shelter providers in Massachusetts are raising concerns as lawmakers move to pass legislation that would limit stays to nine months for the first time in the 40-year history of the state's "right to shelter" law.

Massachusetts is the only state to provide families and pregnant women with a right to shelter, which has existed since 1983. But the system has come under historic strain due to an influx of migrant families and a growing number of Massachusetts families displaced under an increasingly unaffordable housing market, public officials and community leaders say.According to the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, a little over half of the current 7,500 families in the state’s emergency shelter system are those who recently came to the state as refugees or migrants.

“The shelter system is being overwhelmed, and we cannot, as a provider, we cannot handle it,” said Mark DeJoie, CEO of Centerboard, one of the largest emergency shelter providers in the state.

The Massachusetts House of Representatives passed a new spending bill in March outlining a nearly billion-dollar plan to address the shelter crisis. Shortly after, the Senate passed a new version, requiring leaders from the chambers to enter negotiations to work out their differences. Both bills would impose a nine-month limit on emergency shelter stays, but the sticking points include what kind of extensions could be given to families and how the proposals would be funded.

Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, chair of the House Ways and Means committee, which is involved in the negotiations, said he believes a resolution can be reached on the proposals’ differences, adding that Massachusetts’ system would still be more generous than most states if it adopts a