Democratic leaders finally reached a compromise on a $2.8 billion spending bill that includes $250 million for the state’s emergency shelter program, but they couldn’t win legislative approval for the measure because a small band of Republicans in the House refused to let it move forward in an informal session.
Immigration
Posted inState Government
House Republicans threaten to block action on spending plan
House Republicans indicated on Wednesday that they intend to block Democrats if they try to ram through a $2.8 billion closeout budget containing money for the state’s emergency shelter program during informal sessions between now and the beginning of January.
Posted inState Government
Lawmakers fail to reach deal on shelter funds
THE LEGISLATURE adjourned early Thursday morning with no agreement between the two branches on an omnibus close-out spending bill that included $250 million to keep the state’s emergency shelter system afloat.
Posted inPolitics
In Revere, Latino victory reflects a changing city
With his election victory on Tuesday to an at-large city council seat, Juan Jaramillo will become the lone Latino and only non-white official serving on the 11-member council.
Posted inHousing, Immigration
Don’t count on feds for shelter funding, Healey told
GOV. MAURA HEALEY’S call for a cap on the state’s emergency shelter program received tepid support on Monday from the Senate president and House speaker, who said the federal solution the governor is hoping for to address the influx of migrants is unlikely to materialize any time soon because of the leadership void in the […]
Posted inImmigration, State Government
Healey tries to have it both ways on emergency shelter law
GOV. MAURA HEALEY tried to have it both ways on the state’s right to shelter law Monday, insisting her administration is not backing away from requirements of the law while acknowledging that shelter capacity will max out by the end of this month and after that placements in the program will not be guaranteed. The […]
Posted inImmigration
Lt. Gov. says state running out of shelter room
MASSACHUSETTS IS GOING to run out of places to shelter newly arriving immigrants and other families without housing “very, very soon,” leaving the one state in the country that has a legal obligation to shelter unhoused families in a position where “there is not going to be literally any room at the inn,” Lt. Gov. […]
Posted inImmigration
Big 3 confer with congressional delegation on migrants
THE BIG 3 on Beacon Hill met via Zoom on Thursday morning with the state’s representatives in Congress, enlisting their help in seeking federal dollars and regulatory changes to help ease the shelter crisis in Massachusetts. Sounding more and more like officials from border states who complain about bearing the burden of immigration, the Massachusetts […]
Posted inImmigration
Putting a face on the state’s shelter crisis
DONNA VELASQUEZ was miserable in Venezuela. She lived with more than a dozen relatives in a small, packed house in La Vela de Coro, a port city in northwestern Venezuela, one of the poorest parts of the country. A 26-year-old single mother raising a small child, she remembers constantly feeling hungry and distressed. Every morning […]
Posted inImmigration
Healey calls emergency shelter situation not sustainable
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE HOUSE SPEAKER Ron Mariano is “still searching for some answers” about the scope of the fast-changing emergency shelter crisis, while Gov. Maura Healey on Tuesday delivered another impassioned plea for federal aid that she acknowledged so far has not been forthcoming. The record number of families in need of shelter, many […]