The House and Senate budget leaders are currently working on a close out budget for the prior state fiscal year 2023 budget, which ended on June 30, 2023. The resolution of a series of budget issues has been confounded by the sharp, greater than expected rise in the need for funding to address the unprecedented migrant shelter crisis which is putting a strain on the overall state budget for the current year and for future budgets.
Under state law, there is a ‘right to shelter in the Commonwealth. As of Tuesday, there were 7,389 families in the system, more than half of whom were in state-funded hotels or motels. The state originally budgeted $325 million in FY24 to fund the burgeoning migrant crisis which the Governor’s Administration and Finance office has estimated will fund these services through mid-January, which is the halfway point for the current fiscal year. Governor Healey has asked the Legislature to provide in the current FY23 close out budget an additional $250 million to cover the migrant housing costs through the balance of the current fiscal year, bring projected FY24 spending at $575 million. By comparison, the prior year 2023 spending total was $264 million.
As the House and Senate budget leaders continue their deliberations on the FY23 closeout budget, the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee Michael Rodrigues noted that there are” "no easy answers" to the open question of migrant shelter funding and the legislative leaders are continuing to work through that now.