Some Expenditures Exceeded $9,000
per Month and Over $100K a Year

BOSTON – The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance released the following statement in response to The Boston Herald story over the weekend which shows the state is paying up to $300 dollars a night for some of the housing under the emergency shelter program. The Herald story stated, “Nightly rates to house homeless families in hotels and motels can run nearly $300, with agencies often baking in the cost of food and supportive services into the bill they hand to the state, according to contracts reviewed by the Herald.” That’s nearly $9,000 per month and over $100,000 a year.

Overall, the Healey administration is spending nearly a billion dollars a year on migrants and the state’s Right to Shelter law program.

March was the first month since June 2023 that taxes came in at or above expectations and ended the longest streak of below-benchmark revenue months in more than 20 years. Tax collections in March were $129 million above the administration’s monthly benchmark. For comparison’s sake, the migrant spending and Right to Shelter law costs taxpayers about $83 million a month, showing how much this spending priority is taking a hit to the state budget.

“The Healey administration needs to refocus their priority to save money for the taxpayers of Massachusetts. Spending $300 a night for the emergency shelter program is simply unsustainable for the state of Massachusetts and its taxpayers. The state is struggling to be economically competitive while its spending is soaring. The responsibility falls on our Governor to make the hard decisions that result in our taxpayers becoming the number one priority,” noted Paul D. Craney, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.

“To the average Massachusetts taxpayer, this is more than they would even spend on themselves while vacationing. They cannot be expected to continue this level of taxpayer funded spending for a problem that could easily be fixed,” noted Craney.