Homelessness rises in Massachusetts, and state funding isn’t keeping pace

Individual homelessness levels are severely rising in Massachusetts, and service providers have received no growth in state assistance in two years, as eyes — and resources — have been trained on the family shelter system.

Communities across Massachusetts have seen up to a 25% increase in individuals experiencing homelessness in the past year, according to U.S. Department of Housing estimates from June.

The spike comes as the state has been focused on a family shelter crisis that’s unfolding in a separate system that has grown beyond its capacity under the pressure of an influx of immigrant families. The pattern is forcing the state to reexamine its 1983 right-to-shelter law, after family shelters consumed $1 billion in funds last year.

“Especially on the shelter side, we know all the talk has been about right-to-shelter,” said Sen. Paul Feeney at a briefing hosted by the Coalition for Homeless Individuals on Tuesday, where advocates asked for an $11 million increase in state funding to keep up with demand. “However, I think what gets lost in that sometimes, is the plight of homeless individuals, people that may not have that safety net available.”

The right-to-shelter law that has been in place for decades only applies to the Emergency Assistance system — that is, it guaranteed an automatic right to emergency housing for families with children and pregnant women, paid for with state funding. The law has not applied to homeless adults.

Over the past few years, as the Emergency Assistance system has buckled under crisis-levels of demand, Gov. Maura Healey and lawmakers put restrictions on the family shelter system. Critics say they have dismantled the 1983 law. 

At the same time, providers who care for homeless individuals have seen level-funding in the state budget since fiscal year 2024 at $110 million, coupled with skyrocketing demand for services.

Last Sunday, the 330-bed Pine Street Men’s Inn in Boston had 411 people seeking a spot; the Pine Street Women’s Inn had 131 individuals ask for one of its 105 spots; in the Boston Public Health Commission’s two shelters, 636 people were competing for 450 beds; and at Father Bill’s & MainSpring in Brockton and Quincy, 358 individuals hoped for one of 270 spaces.

The coalition of adult homelessness providers works differently than the Emergency Assistance system, which is entirely funded by state dollars and is a cohesive system of state-run facilities.

It’s a diverse coalition of services: emergency shelters that keep people off the streets; transitional services that provide opportunities like workforce development, support for substance use disorder, access to medical care, and legal services; and supportive housing for those who are unable to live on their own long-term.

The state funds about 35% of these providers’ costs through a budget line item that has held at $110 million, members of the Coalition for Homeless Individuals said at Tuesday’s briefing. The coalition is asking for an $11 million increase to $121 million. They say it will help them keep up with demand and inflation, though it won’t expand services.

“We’re very, very cognizant — we live here. We know what the budget’s like. We know what the headwinds are,” said Kate Chang, vice president of community and government relations at the Pine Street Inn. “We tried to be extremely respectful and very honest about what our needs are and what we felt that the state could afford without going bonkers.”

Gov. Healey recommended level-funding the line item again in her fiscal year 2026 budget proposal.

“I have feelings on that, but at least, hey –— she didn’t cut us. So that’s a step in the right direction,” Chang said.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development says a perfect storm of factors has led to the highest rates of homelessness across the country and in Massachusetts since it began tracking it in 2007. Compounding factors include a lack of affordable units, end of COVID-era housing policies, the substance use epidemic, increased rates of domestic violence, an aging population and an influx of immigrants fleeing violence and natural disaster across the globe.

In Massachusetts, 85% of individuals experiencing homelessness are sheltered, according to the coalition. Only 10% are so-called chronically homeless, and 90% are homeless for less than a year before they are re-housed. Coalition leaders say this turnover of homeless individuals and higher number of sheltered homeless people, rather than people living on the street, means the crisis is not as visible in Massachusetts as it is in other parts of the country.

That doesn’t mean there’s no need, they said — just that the system is working to keep the majority of homeless people off the streets. Karen LaFrazia of St. Francis House, a day-shelter in Boston, said the number of people they helped increased 23% last year. In the first quarter of this fiscal year, it’s increased another 8% from that already heightened amount.

As nonprofits worry about federal funding in the wake of President Donald Trump’s attempt last week to freeze large swaths of federal grants, Chang said state support is even more important. “Every single solitary [Coalition for Homeless Individuals] member went through a fire drill of what on God’s green earth we would do if we lost our federal funding — which for Pine Street Inn is about 25% of our budget outside of state funding,” Chang said.

The coalition was also advocating for lawmakers to retain funding for another line item that invests $10 million in workforce development for adult homelessness providers. Healey did not include this funding in her fiscal 2026 budget recommendation.

Gregory Grays-Thomas of the Boston Public Health Commission, which operates two shelters in Boston, said those extra dollars to retain staff are especially important as need outpaces the resources providers can offer.

Grays-Thomas said the commission’s staff is leaving for higher-paying and less emotionally-demanding jobs in health care and customer service. He described a staff member having to tell an elderly homeless person that they had no beds available, and that they’d have to spend the night instead on a chair in the shelter’s cafeteria. “It’s a much easier day in an Amazon delivery van,” he said.

Providers also spoke of the aging community of homeless individuals across the state.

In urban and rural communities, homelessness has grown among the senior population, Feeney said. He said it came up at a Regional Council on Aging meeting on Monday, with several senior center directors concerned about the issue.

“Aging adults in our communities, in every town — it knows no bounds — in every town, are on the verge of homelessness, or living out of their cars for certain periods of time,” he said, “and don’t feel like we’re providing the safety net that they need to be able to thrive or even survive on many occasions.”