Protect the Right to Shelter

Forty-one years ago, Massachusetts enacted the first-in-the-nation “right-to-shelter” law, guaranteeing all homeless families with children and pregnant women access to temporary housing and other emergency services.

However, over the past year, Governor Maura Healey and our State Legislature have been chipping away at this critical guarantee. On July 23rd, Governor Healey announced changes to the Emergency Assistance (EA) family shelter system that will force children and their families out with no safe place to sleep at night. Now, many children and pregnant people have slept outside or in train stations, not knowing where they will be night to night. Just last month, the MA Governor's Office announced policy changes that further dismantle this system by creating a two-track system, with some families being sent to barracks-style respite centers capped at 30 days and other families being capped at six months. At the beginning of 2025, she announced proposal for even further eligibility requirements.

Let's be clear: with our rapidly growing rents, weak tenant protections, and exclusionary zoning policies across the state, affordable housing opportunities do not magically appear after six months just because the state wants to wash its hands of any responsibility to care for our residents. Kicking families out of shelter during the coldest months of the year is especially obscene.

We are working with our Housing and Immigration Justice partners to take action to restore the Right to Shelter, and to support those who are most impacted. Below are the ways you can support, and news articles with more information. (Some language above borrowed from Progressive MA.)

Ways you can take action (last updated Jan 17, 2025):

  • Call our leaders:

  • Contact city council: Kyle Davis, who is a member of the Salem City Council, is gathering sign ons from local city officials to urge Gov Healey to protect the write to shelter. We are inviting you to contact your own city officials to invite them to sign on. Growing our list of signees from local leaders will show the Healey administration that there is a large amount of support for humane shelter policies. Learn more and invite your local officials to sign on here. 

  • Stay updated: If you would like to added to our new Google Group to learn about upcoming actions, please follow this link and click the "ask to join" box: https://groups.google.com/u/1/g/ea-actions

  • Sign petitions:

  • Can you offer home hospitality? Any amount of time is welcome.

    • Check out the FAQ prepared by the Brazilian Workers Center that may answer some questions.

    • When you are ready to host just fill out this form https://bit.ly/HostHomesMA.

    • Contact Kathleen McTigue <kathleenmctigue@gmail.com> if you want to talk to someone who has hosted many families or if you have questions.

    • Crowdsourced resources for support services for hosts here.

    • You can organize a “cluster” which is a few host families together supporting a family, which provides more community and support and extends how long groups are able to host families. Hers is a sample document from the Concord UU cluster. If you’d like to learn more about this model, reach out to tsmookler@uumassaction.org.

  • Direct Support: As a community, active witnessing is a tactic we're engaging in that asks us to observe what is happening to families leaving shelter, respond with courage, and intervene with compassion.  Learn more and sign up to witness and accompany here.

  • We are inviting congregations to host families to sleep at their congregation for people with literally no where to go at night. This can be valuable for either short term, ~1-6 nights urgent responses, or longer term hosting.

    • Watch the recording from the Info Session last here, Passcode: Pw?dH69i, and/or email  tsmookler@uumassaction.org if you want to get involved

    • You can learn more by reading FAQs for Congregation’s Exploring Hosting Families.

    • There will be a meeting from 5:00 - 6:00 pm every second and fourth Monday for congregations who are seriously considering hosting, or who are already hosting to support each other. If you want to join, please email Tali at tsmookler@uumassaction.org.

  •  Donate:

    • You can donate via the business Venmo account called TBF/BIJAN @Welcomegrant to help with food, water, blankets etc. All funds will be used to help recently arrived immigrants. We are not able to use funds for hotels at this point because running a hotel based pop up shelter is beyond the abilities and finances of this group of volunteers. Checks can be made out to: Beyond Bond & Legal Defense Fund, Inc Bijan Grant Account and mailed to: 3 Church St. Cambridge MA 02138.

  • Opportunities to House & Support Asylum-Seeking Families in MA from Massachusetts Interfaith New Neighbor Coalition

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