Tag: Worcester

  • Lawmakers push to restrict migrants’ eligibility for shelters

    Access to emergency shelters would be restricted under a proposal by Sens. Peter Durant, R-Spencer, and Ryan Fattman, R-Webster.

    As winter approaches and more families might struggle to put a roof over their heads, Central Massachusetts legislators have proposed restrictions on migrants’ eligibility for emergency shelter.

    Emergency family shelters would be available only for U.S. citizens and those who have been in Massachusetts for longer than one year, under a legislative proposal by Sens. Peter Durant, R-Spencer, and Ryan Fattman, R-Webster. 

    These bills could greatly affect Worcester County where the most recent count identified a record-high 3,110 homeless residents, about 20% higher than 2024. More than 200 people were found unsheltered, living in their cars or encampments on the night of the homelessness census. 

    “Our goal is to make Massachusetts less attractive for people just entering the country,” Durant said.

    While acknowledging the state’s responsibility to take care of those in need, he added, “but again, we want to keep it so that it is for residents of Massachusetts. It is for those who are here legally and not just trying to take advantage of the system.”

    Massachusetts is the only state with a right-to-shelter law, enacted in 1983, which guarantees homeless families with children and pregnant women access to emergency shelters. A influx of migrants in 2023 strained state shelters, prompting policymakers to reconsider the law. 

    In response, Gov. Maura Healey proposed new limits on the right-to-shelter law earlier this year, including imposing a statutory residency requirement, meaning that applicants should show an intent to remain, either through independent documentary verification or through three months of physical presence in the state. Before that, only self-attestation was required. 

    In April, the number of families in shelters fell below 5,000 for the first time since July 2023, according to state data, following new limits on the Emergency Assistance Shelter System. And the number of families of migrants, refugees or asylum seekers fell to less than half.

    But these changes have shifted the financial burden to HomeBASE, a program that provides cash assistance to families eligible for shelters, Durant said.  

    Durant also introduced a bill that would limit HomeBASE to those who have resided in Massachusetts for longer than one year, restricting recent arrivals’ eligibility for state assistance to pay for rent and utilities.

    The emergency shelter system was estimated to cost the state $1 billion in fiscal 2025. But hidden costs to cover health care emerge when Massachusetts is a “magnet” to migrants, Durant added. 

    “People are resourceful,” Durant said. If his bills pass, he expects ineligible migrants to leave the U.S., relocate to stay with their relatives, or make other arrangements.

    Advocates argue that these proposed restrictions are taking the last safety net away before new arrivals reach self-sufficiency.

    Meg Gallo, program director at the Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center’s Worcester office, said refugees, the main clients she works with, typically do not enter shelters when they arrive. Instead, they receive initial housing assistance through resettlement programs and, with immediate work authorization, typically become able to pay their rent within four to six months.

    They could end up forced into shelters, however, under recent federal funding cuts on MassHealth and food assistance programs like SNAP and WIC, Gallo said.

    She worries that these cuts will cause tremendous hardship for new arrivals who work to get their feet on the ground, making them more vulnerable to homelessness. If shelter is not available as a safety net, she said, “that is creating a situation where we are just inviting people to be on the streets.”

  • Can state funds cover gap left by federal food aid restrictions?

    Thousands of legally present immigrants in Massachusetts at risk of losing federal food aid would be eligible for state-funded benefits under a legislative proposal aimed at addressing growing food insecurity.

    The measure, proposed by state Rep. Antonio Cabral, a New Bedford democrat, would create a state-funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program with benefits and eligibility that match the federal level but without restrictions based on immigration status or citizenship.

    SNAP is a federal program administered at the state level, with benefits and eligibility determined by Congress.

    The federal policy shift will push many immigrants into “deepening poverty,” Cabral told the Legislature’s Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities.

    In Worcester, 25.8% of households received SNAP benefits as of 2021, according to the Worcester Community Food Assessment. Under new federal restrictions signed into law this summer, certain lawfully present immigrants with humanitarian protections, including refugees, asylum seekers and victims of human trafficking, will lose access to SNAP.

    The federal restrictions exclude about 10,000 immigrants in Massachusetts from SNAP benefits and affect their U.S. citizen children, according to an analysis by the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute.

    Worcester food pantries have reported widespread fear among immigrants in response to the policy changes.

    At Jeremiah’s Inn Food Pantry in Worcester’s Main South neighborhood, 65% of clients are not enrolled in SNAP despite often being eligible, said Alyssa Dancause, director of community engagement. Language barriers, lack of awareness and fear related to immigration status often prevent low-income immigrants from accessing food aid, she said.

    “People are afraid to put that they are an immigrant on any kind of documentation that could be traced back to them,” she said. The pantry is working on providing appointment and delivery services because some clients are concerned about waiting in line outside.

    Food pantries are also feeling the impact of reduced funding. Food banks in Massachusetts lost $3.4 million in federal support, which “trickles down to all of the food pantries,” Dancause said.

    Meanwhile, demand for food assistance continues to rise, said the Rev. John Madden, pastor of St. John Church in downtown Worcester. The church hosts a food pantry, St. John Food for the Poor, which serves emergency food supplies to 250 to 300 families each Saturday and provides prepared meals during the week.

    “We have certainly seen an increase in people coming,” Madden said, noting that the Legislature should give higher priority to food security.

    The federal change represents a “nationwide attack to demonize people who are on SNAP benefits,” according to the policy team of U.S. Rep. James McGovern of Worcest4er.

    “That takes place in the context of prices going up,” McGovern’s communications director said. “They are stretching people’s budgets more and more.”

    In December 2023, the state Legislature approved $6 million to extend SNAP benefits to all legally present immigrants who met the program’s income requirements. The Department of Transitional Assistance launched the program in February 2024 but shut it down two months later because of a lack of funding. Cabral filed an amendment to revive the program, but the House dismissed it.

    McGovern’s policy team expressed concern that the growing hunger crisis now relies on state funding to address, saying the federal government is “shifting an enormous burden” onto states. “They do not have the funds necessary to cover benefits that were previously covered by the federal government.”