House lawmakers blasted the Healey administration Thursday for not providing clear communication about a shelter crisis that has prompted a state of emergency in Massachusetts, with top officials arguing information is not flowing smoothly from the executive office to cities and towns.
House Republicans and Democrats huddled privately with Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll inside the State House for a briefing on the state’s emergency shelter crisis, which has been fueled in part by crushing housing costs and a steady stream of migrant arrivals. More than 6,200 families were in the state shelter system as of Thursday, with more than third estimated to be migrants, according to state data.
The hour-long meeting took place behind closed doors and included a predetermined list of people who could ask questions after a presentation from Driscoll, according to lawmakers who attended.
Revenue Committee Chair Mark Cusack, a Braintree Democrat, said he did not learn anything new at the meeting and took away from the lieutenant governor’s remarks that the administration is “planning on planning a plan.”
“A lot of we’ll get back to you. A lot of we don’t know the answer to that. And a lot of conflicting answers that were already given,” he told the Herald on his way out of the meeting. He said his topline takeaway was the Healey administration “plans on making a plan and the federal delegation has been absolutely useless in this regard.”
He didn’t stop there.
“This is a federal problem of federal creation and no federal money, no federal solution. They want us to pat them on the back for $2 million when it’s costing us close to a billion here,” he said, referencing $1.9 million in federal funding to expand shelters and transportation that the City of Boston applied for earlier this summer with the state as a sub-applicant.
State Rep. Todd Smola, a Warren Republican, said he appreciated the briefing but “there is a long way to go.
“I think one of the biggest concerns that was shared by the majority of members that asked questions was the flow of information, how it comes to legislators and to local municipalities,” he told the Herald. “I think they’ve really got to work on a plan in order to make that more efficient, and to get that information out there in a timely manner and also to make sure that it is accurate.”
Driscoll said the “positive briefing” was an opportunity to share with House members the status of a National Guard deployment to hotels around the state housing displaced families and migrants that do not have contracted service providers.
“I think this is the third briefing we’ve given to House members so this is a continual opportunity for us to share sort of next steps there,” she said.
But even top House Democrats are not pleased with the Healey administration.
“The communication has been less than desirable from all aspects down to the municipal level,” said House Majority Leader Rep. Michael Moran, a Brighton Democrat. “That’s the frustration that a lot of colleagues expressed, a number of them expressed. And the administration took some ownership of that and they’re committed to improving the communication lines, not just with the Legislature, but also with the local municipal elected officials.”
Driscoll also indicated during the meeting that the administration would likely file a spending bill to cover some of the costs associated with the shelter crisis but specific details were not immediately available, said Rep. Peter Durant, who was present at the meeting.
“Typically, a supplemental budget will have a number of different things in it, but we expect that that would be a big portion of it,” Durant told reporters.
