A Massachusetts judge shot down activists’ demands for courts to force state officials to stop putting applicants on a waitlist for housing and to instead immediately tend to their needs, whether there is enough funding in the budget to sustain the service or not.
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Debra Squires-Lee ruled on Wednesday that activists did not have standing to force the state to house people above the means of the program’s budget. She found that the state has complied with “Right to Shelter” laws by asking for an increase in funding for the program more than a month ago — even though that increase has yet to be granted. Administrators also acted responsibly by enacting emergency regulations that will place people on a waitlist for housing.
Judge Squires-Lee also noted that she does not have the authority to intervene in the conduct of officials as they attempt to manage a program within budgetary constraints and the law.
The activists’ demands are part of a class action lawsuit brought by Lawyers for Civil Rights, a group representing families on the brink of homelessness, according to WBUR.
The waitlist policy marks the first time officials have ever deferred immediate housing for applicants in its family shelter program. Authorities note that they have been overwhelmed with illegal aliens and no longer have either the shelter space or the budget to immediately supply housing to applicants.
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“The state does not have enough space, service providers, or funding to safely expand shelter capacity,” a spokesperson for the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities program told the media after Judge Squires-Lee’s ruling.
Expressing his disappointment with the ruling, Oren Sellstrom, a member of Lawyers for Civil Rights, said the case “shines a light once again on the humanitarian crisis that is unfolding and on the need for the legislature to act quickly to preserve emergency shelter, particularly now that winter is approaching.”
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) announced in October that the program was nearly at capacity, having almost reached its limit of serving 7,500 families. As of October 25, the state reported it was already helping 7,388 family units with housing.
Once capacity is reached, the state plans to place further applicants on a waitlist instead of housing them immediately.
Carol Rose, the executive director at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Massachusetts, blasted the new policy.
“The Commonwealth must not slam the door to emergency shelter for children and their families who have no other safe place to go — leaving families with nowhere to sleep other than the streets, cars, and other places that are dangerous for children,” Rose told WBUR.
Meanwhile, the mayors of five deep blue cities are seeking a meeting with the White House to demand more money and better handling of the border crisis that is sending tens of thousands of indigent illegal border crossers to their jurisdictions.
The Democrat mayors of Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, and New York are hoping to get more aid to deal with the avalanche of illegals they are suffering from, according to the Associated Press.
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In their letter to the president, the quintet demands at least $5 billion more in federal aid to help cope with the influx.
“While we are greatly appreciative of the additional federal funding proposed, our city budgets and local taxpayers continue to bear the brunt of this ongoing federal crisis,” the group’s letter says. “Cities have historically absorbed and integrated new migrants with success.”
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Several states and cities with right-to-shelter laws, including Massachusetts and New York, are under pressure — even among Democrats — to alter, amend, or even cancel the policy as thousands more border crossers enter their cities every month.
Even former President Bill Clinton recently claimed that such rules need to be reassessed in light of the migrant crisis.
“It’s broken. We need to fix it … It doesn’t make any sense. They come here, and we’re supposed to shelter people who can’t get work permits for six months. We need to change that,” Clinton told the hosts of WABC radio’s The Cats Roundtable show. “They ought to work. They need to begin working, paying taxes, and paying their way. Most of these people have no interest in being on welfare.”
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