(WWLP) – The release of the audit comes as the state plans to close its remaining motel and hotel shelters this summer, including the remaining few in our area.
Dozens of families are still being housed in hotels in our area, including in West Springfield. On Tuesday, 22News spoke with the city’s mayor about how closing those shelters will impact the community. Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey announced on Monday that all hotel and motel shelters will close six months ahead of the original schedule.
Massachusetts is the only state to have a “Right to Shelter” law, meaning families with children and pregnant women have access to temporary housing when they are experiencing homelessness. While the law may have temporarily helped with the migrant crisis, many were not in favor of the hotel shelters, including State Senator John Velis, who voted against it multiple times.
“We just do not have the money,” Velis said. “We didn’t have the money three years ago, we didn’t have the money two years ago. Right now, with all the uncertainty at the federal government, we most certainly do not have the money.”
There were once as many as 100 hotel and motel shelters across the state in the summer of 2023. Now, as of April 30 this year, only 32 remain. One of the remaining shelters is located at the old Clarion Hotel in West Springfield. Mayor Will Reichelt told 22News it has been difficult for the town.
“Schools have really the largest impact, because it is the students that are coming and building up classroom capacity,” Reichelt said. “So that’ll certainly be better for our school districts as a whole.”
He said not only will it be a relief for the school district, but also a step in the right direction for the families in the shelter.
“The Clarion is a hotel. It is not built as a shelter, it is not meant to be long-term housing,” Reichelt said. “So, I think this is a win-win for both sides, for the town and its resources, and also for the folks that were living there to get into real, actual housing.”
All of the shelters have been ordered to close by the end of the summer. The state spent about $1 billion annually on the system for the past two years. Senator Velis said there has been English language education and job training to support families moving out of the shelters, so he’s optimistic that means more people are going to be joining the workforce.