State bars shelter eligibility for some criminal convictions
BOSTON, Mass. (SHNS)–All adults seeking shelter in the state's emergency assistance program must receive a criminal background check before accessing benefits under new action by the Healey administration, which also lowered the system's maximum capacity.
Gov. Maura Healey's office on Friday rolled out regulations that execute many of the reforms in a shelter funding and safety bill she signed last month, including a requirement for adult shelter applicants to disclose their criminal histories and agree to a Criminal Offender Record Information, or CORI, check.
Governor Healey orders inspection of all Massachusetts shelters after gun, drugs found
Effective Friday, an applicant who refuses a CORI check will be ineligible for emergency assistance shelter. The regulations also outline more than a dozen criminal convictions and charges that would disqualify shelter-seekers, including murder, rape and sexual assault, firearms felonies or misdemeanors in the past six years, and drug trafficking in the past three years.
'These changes will empower our team to keep families, staff and communities safe by enhancing our criminal background check process and disqualifying anyone who has been convicted of a serious crime,' Healey said of the new regulations. 'Additionally, we are making real progress when it comes to lowering the cost of this system to taxpayers — and we are on track to hit all of our goals by the end of the year. Massachusetts is managing this federal problem, but Congress needs to act on meaningful immigration reform instead of making Massachusetts taxpayers foot the bill for their failures.'
Applicants must verify their identities and familial relationships before being placed into the state-funded shelter system, Healey's office said.
Republicans voted against the bill before it landed on Healey's desk, arguing that Massachusetts CORI checks are not enough because they would not capture crimes committed in other states or countries.
The regulations landed about two weeks after Healey signed into law a bill that simultaneously provided the cash-strapped system with another $425 million to keep it afloat through June and implemented a range of temporary and permanent reforms, including a six-month limit on shelter stays.
Healey's office on Friday also announced changes to its prior emergency declaration 'to reflect that the EA system's capacity is now at 5,800 families.' The governor previously set a cap of 7,500 families, and in recent months the caseload has fallen to about 5,800, her office said.
With more families exiting the system, Healey's office said the administration is 'on track to reduce caseload to 4,000 families and close all hotel shelters by the end of the year.'
The mix of shelter-seekers has shifted. About 75 percent of families seeking services are long-term Massachusetts families, a change from earlier in the crisis when about half were newly arriving migrants.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
40 minutes ago
- Washington Post
What is next for American universities?
In his May 30 Friday Opinion column, 'Republicans want to tax the Ivy League into submission,' Perry Bacon Jr. fretted that increasing the current 1.4 percent tax on the net investment income of the largest private endowments in the nation would somehow 'hurt not only students and faculty at those schools but the country overall.' This is like worrying that closing the carried interest loophole would mean the end of Wall Street.
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
DNC chair, almost crying, claims David Hogg is making it impossible to lead party: ‘No one knows who the hell I am'
DNC Chair Ken Martin vented about party Vice Chairman and Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg to the point of near tears in a recent call with top Dem brass, saying, 'No one knows who the hell I am. 'I'll be very honest with you: For the first time in my 100 days on this job, the other night I said to myself for the first time, 'I don't know if I wanna do this anymore,' ' Martin bluntly admitted in leaked audio of the May 15 Zoom meeting, which was obtained by Politico, Martin, who was elected boss of the Democratic National Committee in February, bemoaned the shadow that Hogg cast over him by igniting a firestorm within the party over his plans to fund primary challenges against incumbent Dems. Advertisement 'No one knows who the hell I am, right?' Martin said during the call, in which he singled out Hogg, who was in the meeting. 'I'm trying to get my sea legs underneath of me and actually develop any amount of credibility so I can go out there and raise the money and do the job I need to put ourselves in a position to win,' the chairman said. 'I don't think you intended this, but you essentially destroyed any chance I have to show the leadership that I need to,' he said, directly addressing Hogg. 'So it's really frustrating.' Advertisement 3 Ken Martin didn't mince words about his frustrations with DNC Vice Chair David Hogg in leaked audio. AP 3 Hogg has been working to fund Democratic primaries against safe DEM incumbents despite his role as a party's vice chair. Getty Images for Fast Company Toward the end of the leaked audio, Martin's voice grew softer, and he paused at least twice, appearing to be on the verge of choking up. The DNC boss told Hogg, 'I deeply respect you' and 'was looking forward to working with you' while griping about the dilemma that the 25-year-old school mass-shooting survivor created. Advertisement Martin, referring to the state of the DNC, said, 'It has plenty of warts, and we're all trying to change those, for sure, but the longer we continue this fight, the harder it is for us to actually do what we all want to do, which is make a difference in this country again.' About 10 people were reportedly on the call. The Post reached out to the DNC and Hogg for comment. Hogg later posted text messages with the Politico reporter who broke the story as evidence that he didn't leak the audio. Advertisement Martin was meanwhile adamant that 'I'm not going anywhere' after the leaked audio surfaced. 'I took this job to fight Republicans, not Democrats,' he said in a statement obtained by Politico. 'As I said when I was elected, our fight is not within the Democratic Party, our fight is and has to be solely focused on Donald Trump and the disastrous Republican agenda. 'That's the work that I will continue to do every day.' Hogg announced in April that his 'Leaders We Deserve' group would shell out about $20 million to meddle in Democratic primaries located in safe districts to edge out what it considers complacent incumbents in favor of ones who are more feisty. 3 Hogg has argued that the party needs to become more combative. Getty Images Last month, Hogg's group made its first endorsement, backing Illinois state Sen. Robert Peters (D) for the seat held by US Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), in Illinois' 2nd Congressional District. Kelly is running to replace retiring Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) in 2026. Many Democrats are incensed that Hogg is attempting to retain his role as a vice chair at the DNC and intervene in primaries at the same time. Hogg is one of three vice chairs. As with the Republican National Committee, the DNC provides candidates with resources and strategic assistance and is generally expected to be neutral in party primaries. Advertisement 'Our job is to be neutral arbiters,' Martin previously said in another leaked April call. 'We can't be both the referee and also the player at the same time.' Martin had pressured Hogg to either sign a neutrality pledge or step down from his highly coveted perch. Last month, around the time of the leaked Martin Zoom call, the DNC Credentials Committee heard complaints that Hogg and fellow Vice Chair Malcolm Kenyatta were improperly elected to their positions in February. The complaint was furnished by Oklahoma DNC member Kalyn Free, who pointed to committee rules calling for the party to have as close to gender parity as possible. She argued that the election of Hogg and Kenyatta flouted those rules. Advertisement The DNC subpanel recommended that the party hold new elections for the vice chair positions to rectify that issue. All of that controversy has clouded the DNC's efforts to go on the offensive against Republicans and President Trump amid deep soul-searching within the party over what went awry during the 2024 presidential election.
Chicago Tribune
2 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Mike Johnson downplays Elon Musk's influence and says Republicans will pass Donald Trump's tax and budget bill
With an uncharacteristically feistiness, Speaker Mike Johnson took clear sides Sunday in President Donald Trump's breakup with mega-billionaire Elon Musk. The Republican House leader and staunch Trump ally said Musk's criticism of the GOP's massive tax and budget policy bill will not derail the measure, and he downplayed Musk's influence over the GOP-controlled Congress. 'I didn't go out to craft a piece of legislation to please the richest man in the world,' Johnson said on ABC's 'This Week.' 'What we're trying to do is help hardworking Americans who are trying to provide for their families and make ends meet,' Johnson insisted. Johnson said he has exchanged text messages with Musk since the former chief of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency came out against the GOP bill. Musk called it an 'abomination' that would add to U.S. debts and threaten economic stability. He urged voters to flood Capitol Hill with calls to vote against the measure, which is pending in the Senate after clearing the House. His criticism sparked an angry social media back-and-forth with Trump, who told reporters over the weekend that he has no desire to repair his relationship with Musk. The speaker was dismissive of Musk's threats to finance opponents — even Democrats — of Republican members who back Trump's bill. 'We've got almost no calls to the offices, any Republican member of Congress,' Johnson said. 'And I think that indicates that people are taking a wait and see attitude. Some who may be convinced by some of his arguments, but the rest understand: this is a very exciting piece of legislation.' Johnson argued that Musk still believes 'that our policies are better for human flourishing. They're better for the US economy. They're better for everything that he's involved in with his innovation and job creation and entrepreneurship.' The speaker and other Republicans, including Trump's White House budget chief, continued their push back Sunday against forecasts that their tax and budget plans will add to annual deficits and thus balloon a national debt already climbing toward $40 trillion. Johnson insisted that Musk has bad information, and the speaker disputed the forecasts of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that scores budget legislation. The bill would extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts, cut spending and reduce some other levies but also leave some 10.9 million more people without health insurance and spike deficits by $2.4 trillion over the decade, according to the CBO's analysis. The speaker countered with arguments Republicans have made for decades: That lower taxes and spending cuts would spur economic growth that ensure deficits fall. Annual deficits and the overall debt actually climbed during the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, and during Trump's first presidency, even after sweeping tax cuts. Russell Vought, who leads the White House Office of Budget and Management, said on Fox News Sunday that CBO analysts base their models of 'artificial baselines.' Because the 2017 tax law set the lower rates to expire, CBO's cost estimates, Vought argued, presuming a return to the higher rates before that law went into effect. Vought acknowledged CBO's charge from Congress is to analyze legislation and current law as it is written. But he said the office could issue additional analyses, implying it would be friendlier to GOP goals. Asked whether the White House would ask for alternative estimates, Vought again put the burden on CBO, repeating that congressional rules allow the office to publish more analysis. Other Republicans, meanwhile, approached the Trump-Musk battle cautiously. 'As a former professional fighter, I learned a long time ago, don't get between two fighters,' said Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin on CNN's 'State of the Union.' He even compared the two billionaire businessmen to a married couple. 'President Trump is a friend of mine but I don't need to get, I can have friends that have disagreements,' Mullin said. 'My wife and I dearly love each other and every now and then, well actually quite often, sometimes she disagrees with me, but that doesn't mean that we can't stay focused on what's best for our family. Right now, there may be a disagreement but we're laser focused on what is best for the American people.'
