Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey (D) announced on Friday that her administration plans to cut state-run shelter costs by tightening stay limits for families with children.
At present, families have a nine-month stay limit in taxpayer-funded accommodations. However, this duration will soon be capped at six months.
‘Governor Healey is only making this change so she can hang her hat on saying she is doing something.’
A Friday press release from Healey’s administration framed the new policy as a cost-cutting measure to reduce the amount of taxpayer dollars going toward lodging to house homeless local and illegal alien families. Ultimately, the administration’s stated goal is to phase out the use of hotels and motels from the state’s shelter model, which has been overrun amid the ongoing immigration crisis.
The administration claimed the move would “help more families find stable, permanent housing.”
Beginning on December 10, families will either be placed on the “Rapid Shelter Track,” which offers a 30-day stay for those who can obtain “self-sufficient permanent housing,” or the “Bridge Shelter Track,” which provides six months of housing to “high-risk families and those with more complex needs.”
Healey stated, “In recent years, the state’s family shelter system has grown to be increasingly unsustainable. We’ve taken significant action to rein in its growth, and we’ve seen tangible results. The size of the system has remained stable for the past year, we no longer have families relying on Emergency Departments or the airport for shelter, and all shelter sites currently have a service provider instead of relying on the National Guard.”
“More needs to be done so that Massachusetts taxpayers do not continue to be on the hook for this federal problem. The changes we are making will reduce costs, phase out the use of hotels and better meet the needs of all families,” Healey added.
Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll stated there is “clearly a consensus around making shelter brief, rare and non-recurring.”
Paul Craney of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance told Blaze News that the Healey administration’s latest announcement is nothing more than “window dressing” that “will do very little to deter illegal immigrants and inadmissible migrants from coming to Massachusetts.”
“They seek the taxpayer-funded housing and generous welfare benefits,” Craney stated. “Governor Healey is only making this change so she can hang her hat on saying she is doing something. In reality, what she’s been doing since she was elected Governor is make the situation a whole lot worse.”
“Under the Governor’s watch, they have expanded very generous welfare benefits for illegal immigrants and inadmissible migrants, making us a top destination in the country,” he continued. “If the Governor wants to do something about Massachusetts being the top magnet state in the country, she should work with the new administration which is trying to solve the problem.”
Healey stated earlier this month that her state police will “absolutely not” be cooperating with President-elect Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan. She vowed to use “every tool in the toolbox” to “protect” illegal aliens from the incoming administration’s efforts.
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News, Immigration, Illegal immigration, Massachusetts, Maura healey, Donald trump, Trump, Open borders, Border, Immigration crisis, Paul craney, Politics