Latest news with #HomeBASE
Fox News
6 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
$30K in migrant housing aid has Dem gov on hot seat for 'revolving door' policy
While she is shutting down her sanctuary state's migrant shelters, critics are accusing Democratic Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey of simply shifting the costs over to a program that makes migrants eligible to receive at least $30,000 in housing assistance over two years. The Boston Herald reported in June that the Healey administration had increased spending in Massachusetts' HomeBASE program to $97 million in 2025, up from $9.5 million in 2022, according to state data. The outlet reported that eligible families in the Massachusetts-run shelter system were being provided with $30,000 in rental assistance over two years. According to the Herald, the total caseload for HomeBASE increased under Healey from 1,473 in January 2023 to 7,767 in April 2025, more than a 400 percent increase. The outlet also said that some eligible families could qualify for an additional $15,000 in a third year of assistance but that state officials planned to pause third year assistance in July. After that report, Massachusetts GOP Chair Amy Carnevale commented that the HomeBASE program amounted to being "shelters by another name." "Taxpayers are giving migrant families nearly limitless free rental assistance. Meanwhile, federal action means these families won't be receiving work permits anytime soon," she went on, adding, "The migrant shelter crisis is not over, and cost-shifting is not leadership." This month, Healey announced the closure of all remaining hotel shelters in the Bay State amid the formal termination of her executive emergency focused on the state's Biden-era migrant influx. In a statement emailed to Fox News Digital, Carnevale said that "friends, favors, and failures continue to emerge even as she declares that the migrant crisis is over." "Healey should rip off the Band-Aid and tell the public whether these same oversights are occurring in the HomeBASE program," she continued. "The abuse of taxpayer dollars, coupled with a stunning lack of oversight by Maura Healey and her administration, will define her legacy as governor." Meanwhile, Jon Fetherston, a former Massachusetts migrant shelter director who blew the whistle about rampant crime and abuse taking place in the system, commented that "instead of creating stability, HomeBase has become a revolving door of short-term rental assistance." He said that because migrants often spend the bulk of their $30,000 on upfront costs, many become unable to sustain their housing within months. "The Healey Administration's expansion of the HomeBASE program was sold to the public as a solution, one that would save money, reduce shelter dependence, and help migrant families become self-sufficient. But the reality is far different," he explained. "HomeBASE is now a bloated, mismanaged program that's failing both the taxpayers who fund it and the migrants it claims to help." "HomeBASE, in its current form, is a broken promise," he said. "Taxpayers are footing a nearly $100 million bill with little transparency, no measurable outcomes and no end in sight. The promise of savings from closing hotel shelters is being quietly replaced with backdoor spending that still lacks accountability. "This isn't a hand-up; it's a setup for failure." Fox News Digital reached out to Healey's office for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Daily Mail
04-08-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Migrant mom complains about taxpayer-funded $30,000 housing handout she blew through in 10 months
A migrant mother who has received $30,000 through a Massachusetts housing assistance program is now asking for more help. Nadine, who declined to share her last name citing deportation fears, moved to the United States from Haiti in 2021, the Boston Globe reports. She has been living in a subsidized three-bedroom apartment in Dorchester, regarded as Boston's most diverse neighborhood, with her four-year-old son for the past year. Nadine received $30,000 in aid through Governor Maura Healey's HomeBASE emergency shelter program which can be used towards monthly rent payments, security deposits, associated broker's fees, furniture purchases and more. HomeBASE offers recipients an up to two-year rental subsidy, but Nadine has claimed her funds ran out in just 10 months and she is now on the brink of homelessness. She lost her job as a home health aide in April and her boyfriend is no longer residing in the home, making it hard for her to cover her $1,000 share of the $3,000 monthly rent. She has now turned to a refugee resettlement organization for help, claiming that HomeBASE 'was a dead end for me'. But critics are lashing out at her public cry for more government assistance, alleging that Nadine received more support from the state than most Massachusetts families ever will. HomeBASE recipients are required to dedicate at least 30 percent of their monthly income towards their rent. The program will pay the remainder. The program will provide $30,000 over the course of a two-year period, but in cases like Nadine's the money isn't lasting that long. Families can contribute a larger percentage of their monthly income towards rent if they so choose, which Nadine suggests could stretch the stipend further. 'HomeBASE had to pay a bigger share, so the money went out a lot quicker,' she told the Globe of her situation. The program intends to move families out of emergency assistance shelters, but volunteers and shelter operators have suggested creativity is required to make the funds last. They allege that many HomeBASE families use up their stipend and are forced to look for new accommodation before they have stable income or approved work permits. Taxpayers, however, are seemingly not sympathetic to the migrants' cases with some wondering why American citizens are not afforded the same benefits. Disabled veterans receive an annual payment of $2,500 from the state under the Hero Act, according to the Fall River Reporter. But those funds are only provided to veterans who are blind, paraplegic, or have a disability. Massachusetts veterans do get preference in permanent housing, but families with young children - even if they are in the country illegally - reportedly receive priority in the emergency shelter system. Similarly, families in the state wait an average of three years and three months to receive subsidized housing, USAFacts reports. Massachusetts' average wait time is a full 12 months longer than the nationwide average. Despite the criticisms, state housing office authorities are seemingly standing by the HomeBASE program, which they claim is 'cost-effective'. 'HomeBASE has been critical in helping thousands of families leave the shelter system in the past year alone, which is an important part of how we have been able to reduce the size and cost of the shelter system,' a housing office spokesperson told the Globe. HomeBASE received $57.3million in the 2026 budget, a significant cut from the $59.4million the program was awarded in 2023 - the year Healey declared a state of emergency in the shelter system. An influx of migrants have made their way to Massachusetts in recent years, many of whom are enrolled in the state's Emergency Assistance migrant-family shelter program. Data published in January this year revealed the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities recorded 316 'serious incident' reports at hotels, congregate sites, scattered sites and co-shelters within the program since 2022. After the disturbing incidents were revealed, Democrat Governor Healey downplayed the horrific crime acts, alleging the 'vast majority of folks' in the program are complying with rules. She also claimed migrant children were attending school and that 'many' of the adults accepted in the program are working. 'Those who've come through immigration most of them have received work authorizations and are also working,' Healey said. 'And so relative to that number, the instances have been very few.' Healey noted that more than 50,000 people have moved through the program, whose shelters are meant to house homeless pregnant women and families with children, over the last three years. 'But I take every, every - and I want my team to take, I want shelter providers to take - every incident seriously,' she said in January.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mass. has spent over $700M this year on shelters housing locals, migrants
Gov. Maura Healey's administration has spent more than $700 million this fiscal year to house locals, families, and migrants in the state's emergency shelter system, according to publicly available data. 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. Celtics injury report: Jayson Tatum ruled out for Game 2 vs. Magic Wednesday Red Sox injury news: Connor Wong nearing rehab assignment, could return soon 'We need to protect our babies:' Lowell locals heartbroken over missing 4-year-old Harvard's president to talk stakes of Trump admin's demands in new NBC interview PWHL announces first expansion city, second to be determined Read the original article on MassLive.
Boston Globe
17-02-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Families in emergency shelters need long-term solutions
I went on to overcome homelessness, but I can't not forget the harm imposed by his choices, which each day left me in fear of whether I would have a roof over my head. For the thousands of homeless families that remained in flux, I hoped that a new governor would work to strengthen the state's shelter program. But with Governor Maura Healey, the emergency shelter program continues to be at risk. Countless families today depend on the Emergency Assistance shelter program to survive. This crucial program is a lifeline for families on the brink of or experiencing homelessness, giving them help before the cycle of poverty takes hold. Over the past year, however, the program has been pushed to capacity, the result of a growing in Massachusetts amid a housing crisis that has also pushed residents into state-funded shelters. Yet instead of focusing on addressing family homelessness, policy makers have begun Some have proposed rescinding the 'right-to-shelter' law, which guarantees homeless families access to emergency shelter. Healey has Advertisement Families with children, irrespective of citizenship, have been forced to These families need real solutions that prevent or interrupt homelessness, rather than arbitrary limits on their ability to access resources. For example, HomeBASE is a often spend more weeks in shelter than necessary because of bureaucratic Advertisement In light of the housing affordability crisis, policy makers need to better utilize vacant subsidized housing. such housing because they are unable to meet stringent eligibility requirements. Further, policy makers must invest more in eviction prevention resources, like the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition The solution to the surge in family homelessness does not lie in removing one of the few safety nets available to homeless families. It necessitates Furthermore, the root of this shelter crisis is the shortage of affordable housing in the state. Instead of destroying the family shelter system, our policy makers must protect it — and then expand their efforts beyond it — to end family homelessness once and for all. For all its flaws, the family shelter system provided my family with a roof when we needed it the most. It gave me the space to build a better future for myself, even under the worst circumstances, that led to my becoming a housing attorney. The thousands of homeless children in the Commonwealth deserve that same chance. Advertisement Timothy Scalona is a staff attorney in the Housing Unit at Greater Boston Legal Services and a board member at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute.
