Press Release  Governor Healey Announces Successful Closure of All Hotel Shelters, Ends State of Emergency 

Boston — Governor Maura Healey is announcing that the final hotel shelters in Massachusetts are closed, months ahead of schedule. She is also formally terminating an emergency declaration she issued in August 2023, which paved the way for reforms that successfully lowered the size and cost of the state’s emergency shelter system.

“When we took office, families were being placed in hotels all across the state, and families were staying in shelter for months – sometimes years – at a time. There was no plan in place to reform the shelter system to handle the surge in demand, protect taxpayer dollars or help families leave shelter. We can all agree that a hotel is no place to raise a family. So we took action,” said Governor Healey. “As a result of my reforms and our efforts to help families get jobs and stable housing, we have fewer families in shelter than the day we took office, and all hotel shelters are now closed – months ahead of schedule. We’re saving taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and putting families on a path to self-sustainability.”

“We are deeply grateful to the frontline teams whose extraordinary work make all the difference for families,” said Housing and Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus. “The dedication of our shelter providers ensured that thousands of families had access to safe shelter and support when they needed it most. We also thank the communities and partners across the state who stepped up to help families in need.”

The Healey-Driscoll Administration inherited two dual challenges when it arrived in office in 2023: an unprecedented surge of families seeking emergency shelter and a flawed shelter system that was ill-equipped to handle such a surge. In response, Governor Healey declared a state of emergency and imposed a cap on the system at 7,500 families in 2023. If she hadn’t implemented this cap, caseload was projected to have reached 13,000 families by the summer of 2024. Governor Healey also worked with the Legislature to reform the Right to Shelter law to implement a six-month length of stay limit, require proof of Massachusetts residency and require that all family members have lawful immigration status, with limited exemptions. Governor Healey also expanded workforce training and job placement for residents, increased case management to help families find stable housing, and imposed mandatory CORI checks for all adults before entry into the system.

As a result of Governor Healey’s actions, caseloads and costs have decreased. The number of families in shelter is now lower than when Governor Healey took office in January 2023, and all hotel shelters closed as of Thursday. Since the start of 2025, triple the number of families have exited shelter (approximately 4,500) than have entered shelter (approximately 1,500). Approximately 85-90 percent of families seeking shelter are now longtime Massachusetts families.

Historically, Massachusetts has turned to hotels and motels to shelter homeless families when traditional shelters reach capacity. In 2014, 1,500 families were being sheltered in hotels across the state. The previous administration turned to hotels again in 2022 as the number of families seeking shelter began to dramatically increase due to the housing crisis, failed federal immigration policy, and a lack of safeguards to control the expansion of the shelter system.

In addition to hotels, the Norfolk Rapid Shelter located at the former Bay State Correctional Center and the Chelsea Rapid Shelter site have also closed.

The reforms implemented by Governor Healey and the Legislature will remain in place to ensure the continued sustainability of the shelter system and protect taxpayer dollars. 

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