Mass. has spent over $700M this year on shelters housing locals, migrants
In total, the state has spent $706.8 million on the emergency housing assistance program.
Under Massachusetts's right-to-shelter law, the state is required to provide shelter if it is needed, such as if a family is homeless or if someone is pregnant. This applies to all Massachusetts residents, whether they are locals or migrants.
The state spent $537 million on direct shelter payments, according to the data, which was updated on April 17. This is the highest amount of spending as part of the $706.8 million. The second highest amount of spending this year was for HomeBASE at $77 million.
HomeBASE is a program designed to help those in shelters seek stable housing.
The total shelter spending is below the projected $1 billion in costs the administration anticipated for the 2025 budget year. It is also lower than the total amount of money spent on the emergency housing assistance program in the 2024 budget year, which came in at $894 million, according to the data.
What is not included in the data is how much spending will be projected for the 2026 budget year.
Democrats in the state House have proposed putting $275 million into the system in their fiscal year 2026 budget proposal, according to the Boston Globe.
The total number of families in shelters, hotels or motels as of April 17 is 4,935, according to the report.
The Healey administration announced on April 16 that the number of people in shelters dropped below 5,000 for the first time since July 2023.
'We inherited an Emergency Shelter System that was on an unsustainable path,' said Healey. 'We've taken decisive action to reduce the number of families in shelter and lower the cost of the system – and we're getting results. Caseload is now down by 33 percent from its peak, and we have already reduced the use of costly hotels by more than half.'
In March, the Healey administration announced it had set a cap of 5,800 families in the shelter system, down from the previous threshold of 7,500 families.
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Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Would Newsom's CA redistricting effort affect SLO County? See the leaked maps
California Gov. Gavin Newsom launched an effort Friday to thwart Republican gerrymandering in Texas by redrawing California's own voting districts to favor Democratic congressional candidates in certain districts for the next three election cycles — but San Luis Obispo County's district lines would not change. The proposed maps were designed to flip five currently Republican seats in the northeastern corner of California, along the eastern state border from Plumas National Forest past Death Valley, in San Diego and in and around Los Angeles. According to leaked drafts of the new maps, neither of SLO County's congressional districts, safely held by Democrats, would be substantially affected. Typically, redistricting in California happens at the turn of the decade in concert with the census and is led by an independent citizens commission made up of Republicans, Democrats and non-party-affiliated members. The next regular redistricting is expected in 2030. But Newsom's mid-decade push to redraw congressional district lines, led by lawmakers, is not typical. It is a direct challenge to Texas' attempt, instigated by the Trump administration, to add as many as five GOP seats to the U.S. House of Representatives — in which Republicans have a razor-thin advantage — ahead of the midterm elections to preserve the Republican advantage for the second half of Trump's term. California's gerrymandered maps would aim to flip the same number of seats blue, zeroing out the net balance of seat changes in 2026. 'Texas is taking away the voice of the people,' Assemblymember Dawn Addis, who represents SLO County in the Legislature, told The Tribune. 'California is giving it back.' To Addis, the redistricting effort is about enfranchising California's minority voting communities while Texas disenfranchises its own with what she called an 'outright attack on underrepresented communities.' Unlike Texas, California's redistricting process would leave the decision up to the voters. Upon returning from summer break next week, the Legislature will vote on three bills in a legislative package dubbed the Election Rigging Response Act. to introduce the new maps, set a special election for Nov. 4 to vote on their adoption, and proposed a budget package to fund the special election. The package also includes a trigger clause that would cause the new district lines to go into effect only if Texas or other states follow through on redrawing their districts in favor of Republican voters. If passed, the maps would take effect for the next three elections in 2026, 2028 and 2030. California would return to its regular independent redistricting procedure for 2032. 'We're in a position where we have to fight,' Addis said. SLO County not impacted by redistricting SLO County is split between two congressional districts — Districts 24 and 19, represented by Democrats Salud Carbajal and Jimmy Panetta, respectively. According to draft versions of the redistricted maps leaked to KCRA 3 on Friday afternoon ahead of the official release, SLO County would remain in its two current Central Coast congressional districts. It appears the borders of the two districts would be tweaked slightly, but not in SLO County. According to data from Redistricting Partners, which created the maps working with California Democrats, the number of potential voters would shift slightly under the new maps, with District 24 going from 539,100 to 540,894 and District 19 going from 535,195 to 532,407. Redistricting Partners is the same firm that previously drew SLO County's Board of Supervisors district lines. 'Trump and the Republicans know their policies, such as the tariff-taxes, Big Beautiful Bill and immigration raids, are unpopular, so they are trying to steal enough congressional seats to stay in power,' Carbajal told The Tribune in a statement, 'I fully support Gov. Newsom's efforts to protect our democracy, and the will of the American people, from this unprecedented power grab.' Addis said local voters should think beyond SLO County when casting their vote in November. 'I can't emphasize how important this special election is,' she said. 'We're willing to stand up for the whole nation and defend democracy.' Even though the Election Rigging Response Act breaks procedure and gerrymanders California in favor of Democrats, Addis applauded the Legislature for taking a democratic approach to the unusual redistricting process, allowing voters to have the final say. 'We're completely committed to do it in a transparent way, unlike Texas,' she said, adding that 'we'd prefer to wait for redistricting,' in 2030. The state-led redistricting comes after SLO County created its own independent redistricting committee in September in reaction to the 2021 Board of Supervisors approving a radically redrawn district map that favored Republicans, according to a Tribune analysis. 'SLO County has really stood up for voter rights,' she said. 'The same thing (happened) where the Republicans in SLO County tried to disenfranchise voters through gerrymandering.' What California congressional districts would change? The leaked drafts confirmed that Democrats are targeting five Republican districts in the nothern reaches of the state, the Central Valley and Southern California, while hoping to shore up other competitive districts to make them easier for party candidates to win. The California Republicans whose districts Democrats are targeting are Reps. Kevin Kiley, David Valadao, Ken Calvert, Doug LaMalfa and Darrell Issa. If successful, the effort would net Democrats 48 of the state's 52 congressional seats; the party currently controls 43. Other districts that Democrats have narrowly won would also be consolidated into friendlier terrain. Political data scientist Paul Mitchell, a redistricting veteran, drafted the maps. 'Our proposed map was created using traditional redistricting criteria, consistent with guidelines laid out by the California's Citizen Redistricting Commission,' according to a cover letter from Julie Merz of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee included with the map. 'It allows for more compact districts than in the current Commission-drawn map, keeps more communities and neighborhoods together, splits fewer cities, and makes minimal disruptions to the Commission-drawn map so as to impact as few residents as possible,' Merz wrote. 'This is a striking contrast from Texas' proposed gerrymander, which redrew all but one of their 38 congressional districts to minimize the state's growing minority voting strength.' The draft maps, which leaked online ahead of their official release Friday, would shrink most Republican districts. It would shift much of the state's northernmost region into the coastal 2nd Congressional District seat currently held by Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman while including parts of northern Marin and Sonoma counties. Kiley's district would also shrink and encompass part of the greater Sacramento area, shift the bulk of voters to Republican Rep. Tom McClintock's district and remove a broad section of the eastern Sierra Nevada. Valadao's district would also shrink, as would that of Issa, who trumped his Democratic opponent in 2024 by almost 19 points to be reelected to his San Diego-area seat. According to a chart that leaked Thursday, all of those districts would shift from being 'safely' Republican to either lean Democrat, or be considered safe for any Democratic candidate if voters approve them in November. Calvert and Issa currently represent parts of Riverside and San Diego counties, and Valadao represents a Central Valley district. LaMalfa currently represents much of the north from Yuba City to the Oregon border. Kiley, arguably Newsom's arch rival within the state, currently represents much of the northern Sacramento suburbs, northern Sierra Nevada, and the Nevada border down to Death Valley. Solve the daily Crossword
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
Schwarzenegger taunts Newsom with message targeting Dem redistricting push
Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is pumping up for a new fight. The longtime Hollywood action star, the last Republican governor in Democrat-dominated California, says he's mobilizing to oppose the push by current Gov. Gavin Newsom to temporarily scrap the state's nonpartisan redistricting commission. 'I'm getting ready for the gerrymandering battle,' Schwarzenegger wrote in a social media post Friday, which included a photo of the former professional bodybuilding champion lifting weights. Schwarzenegger, who rose to worldwide fame as the star of the film 'The Terminator' four decades ago, wore a T-shirt in the photo that said 'terminate gerrymandering.' The social media post by Schwarzenegger comes as Democratic leaders in the Democrat- dominated California legislature are moving forward with new proposed congressional district maps that would create up to five more blue-leaning US House seats in the nation's most populous state. Newsom on Thursday teamed up in Los Angeles with congressional Democrats and legislative leaders in the heavily blue state to unveil their redistricting playbook. 4 Arnold Schwarzenegger wears a 'F*** The Politicians. Terminate Gerrymandering' shirt while working out. Arnold Schwarzenegger/X Newsom and the Democrats are aiming to counter the ongoing effort by President Donald Trump and Republicans to create up to five GOP-friendly congressional districts in red state Texas at the expense of Democrat-controlled seats. 'Today is liberation day in the state of California,' Newsom said. 'Donald Trump, you have poked the bear, and we will punch back.' Newsom vowed to 'meet fire with fire' with his push for a rare — but not unheard of — mid-decade redistricting. 4 California Gov. Gavin Newsom embraces former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at a news conference in Los Angeles, Calif. on March 22, 2024. Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag The Republican push in Texas, which comes at Trump's urging, is part of a broader effort by the GOP across the country to pad its razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats. Trump and his political team are aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House, when Democrats stormed back to grab the House majority in the 2018 midterms. While the Republican push in Texas to upend the current congressional maps doesn't face constitutional constraints, Newsom's path in California is much more complicated. The governor is pushing to hold a special election this year to get voter approval to undo the constitutional amendments that created the nonpartisan redistricting commission. A two-thirds majority vote in the Democrat-dominated California legislature as early as next week would be needed to hold the referendum. Democratic Party leaders are confident they'll have the votes to push the constitutional amendment and the new proposed congressional maps through the legislature. 'Here we are in open and plain sight before one vote is cast in the 2026 midterm election, and here [Trump] is once again trying to rig the system,' Newsom charged. Newsom said his plan is 'not complicated. We're doing this in reaction to a president of the United States that called a sitting governor in the state of Texas and said, 'Find me five seats.' We're doing it in reaction to that act.' 4 The proposed Congressional district map of California. California State Assembly The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) said 'Newsom's made it clear: he'll shred California's Constitution and trample over democracy — running a cynical, self-serving playbook where Californians are an afterthought, and power is the only priority.' But Newsom defended his actions, saying 'we're working through a very transparent, temporary and public process. We're putting the maps on the ballot and putting the power to the people.' Thursday's appearance by Newsom, considered a likely contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, also served as a fundraising kickoff to raise massive amounts of campaign cash needed to sell the redistricting push statewide in California. The nonpartisan redistricting commission, created over 15 years ago, remains popular among most Californians, according to public opinion polling. That's why Newsom and California Democratic lawmakers are promising not to scrap the commission entirely, but rather replace it temporarily by the legislature for the next three election cycles. 'We will affirm our commitment to the state independent redistricting after the 2030 census, but we are asking the voters for their consent to do midterm redistricting,' Newsom said. Their efforts are opposed by a number of people supportive of the nonpartisan commission. 4 Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a rally about redistricting at the Democracy Center, Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles on Aug. 14, 2025. Getty Images Among the most visible members is likely to be Schwarzenegger. 'He calls gerrymandering evil, and he means that. He thinks it's truly evil for politicians to take power from people,' Schwarzenegger spokesperson Daniel Ketchell told Politico earlier this month. 'He's opposed to what Texas is doing, and he's opposed to the idea that California would race to the bottom to do the same thing.' Schwarzenegger, during his tenure as governor, had a starring role in the passage of constitutional amendments in California in 2008 and 2010 that took the power to draw state legislative and congressional districts away from politicians and placed it in the hands of an independent commission. 'Most people don't really think about an independent commission much, one way or another. And that's both an opportunity and a challenge for Newsom,' Jack Pitney, an American politics professor at California's Claremont McKenna College, told Fox News. 'It's going to take a lot of effort and money to energize Democrats and motivate them to show up at the polls,' Pitney said, adding Newsom's effort 'is all about motivating people who don't like Trump.' Fox News' Lee Ross contributed to this report
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Democrats decry move by Pentagon to pause $800 million in nearly done software projects
By Alexandra Alper WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Democrats took aim at the Trump administration after Reuters reported on Wednesday that the Navy and Air Force were poised to cancel nearly completed software projects worth over $800 million. The reason for the move was an effort by some officials at the services to steer new projects to companies like Salesforce and Palantir, in what could amount to a costly do-over. 'The Pentagon has yet to show that it had a good reason for halting these contracts in the last inning and scrapping work American tax dollars have already paid for," Democratic Senator Tim Kaine said in a statement. "If it can't show its homework, then this announcement - just days after Palantir's CEO spoke at Mike Johnson's Wyoming donor retreat - reeks of corruption.' Punchbowl reported this month that Palantir CEO Alex Karp planned to address Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson's annual big-donor retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The Pentagon and Air Force did not respond to requests for comment. The Navy declined to comment. Trump officials have said the administration is striving to make the contracting process more efficient. The comments show growing concern among Democratic lawmakers over waste at the Pentagon, even as Donald Trump took office vowing to rid the government of waste and abuse. The website of the Department of Government Efficiency, the agency he created to spearhead those efforts, lists over $14 billion in Defense Department contracts it claims to have canceled. But seven months into his presidency, some of his own actions have complicated DOGE's work, from firing the Pentagon's inspector general to issuing an executive order prioritizing speed and risk-taking in defense acquisitions. 'If you're serious about cracking down on waste, fraud, and abuse, the last thing you'd do is cancel $800 million in projects that are nearly ready to roll out just to turn around and steer the same work to corporations of your choosing," said Democratic Representative Maggie Goodlander, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee and served as an intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve. "This maneuver is an insult to taxpayers and servicemembers across America," she added. Salud Carbajal, another House Democrat who sits on the Armed Services Committee, said the behavior was part of a pattern of waste at the Pentagon under Trump. 'I understand that our military's acquisition and procurement processes aren't flawless, but this administration has repeatedly shown a blatant disregard for the responsible use of taxpayer dollars,' said Carbajal, citing "lavish" military parades and "unnecessary" troop deployments in Los Angeles. Democratic U.S. Representative Jill Tokuda, who also sits on the committee, echoed Carbajal's remarks. "Stripping away critical oversight guardrails is unnecessary and downright reckless," she said, adding that after many delays, the Pentagon was finally poised to implement military pay systems that could pass an audit. "Taxpayers should not fund sweetheart deals for the well connected."
