Reforming our ‘Right to Shelter Law’

One of the biggest stories of 2024 was the influx of migrants into Massachusetts and the costs to our state for sheltering them.

According to a bi-weekly report released by the state on December 16, 2024, as of mid-December there were 6,878 families in the state emergency shelter system, with a funded capacity of 7,500 families and with 3,265 families in state emergency assistance who entered as migrants, refugees or asylum seekers. This included 75 families in towns that make up the 5th Barnstable District and who are housed in shelters, hotels or motels. The average length of stay statewide is 353 days. The total cost for sheltering and providing other support to migrants in FY24 was approximately $1.25 billion. The state already has spent $331.8 million on emergency housing assistance in FY’25, and the projected FY’25 cost through the end of this fiscal year is $1.094 billion.

I believe these costs are unsustainable. I am also frustrated that through the end of 2024 there has not been any meaningful effort to try to secure our nation’s borders to stem the influx of people who are entering this country without lawful basis. Meanwhile, there also is no meaningful effort to monitor people entering this country unlawfully to screen out known criminals and to prevent them from bringing contraband (including weapons and drugs), diseases, and human trafficking into this country.

I want to be very clear: I fully support legal immigration into the United States. I’m proud to be the grandson of Greek immigrants and I fully believe that our nation is made stronger by our diversity of backgrounds. However, I am also someone who is fully-committed to the rule of law. Our nation cannot continue to allow a porous border to threaten our national security. And, our state cannot continue to shoulder the burden and cost of supporting migrants.

In 2024, I announced my intent to reform our state ‘Right to Shelter Law’ so that it would provide emergency benefits only to United States citizens. This follows the original intent of the law, which was to provide support to Massachusetts residents in desperate need of assistance. Unfortunately, these individuals are seeing resources intended for their benefit depleted as funds are diverted to shelter people who are not United State citizens, including illegal immigrants, and including individuals relocated to Massachusetts because of our state’s lucrative benefits. I also support increased screening of migrants to ensure that people who are a known risk (ie. persons with a criminal record from other nations) will not pose a risk on our streets. And, I strongly oppose sanctuary policies that prevent state and local law enforcement from cooperating with federal counterparts to remove dangerous illegal immigrants from our streets.

I plan to continue these efforts in 2025 and to push for greater transparency, accountability, and fiscal responsibility.