Massachusetts Officials Pleading with Private Homeowners to Take in Illegal Aliens

The state of Massachusetts is asking private homeowners to take in illegal aliens as the state runs out of room to house the thousands of border crossers who are still flooding into the Bay State.

Massachusetts is the only state that has a state-wide “right to housing” rule for homeless families. And with that rule in mind, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) has repeatedly asked legal residents to open up their homes to illegal immigrants for whom officials are having a hard time finding beds.

Healey declared a “state of emergency” over the influx of illegal aliens in August, saying in her declaration, “There are currently nearly 5,600 families or more than 20,000 individuals in state shelter, including children and pregnant women.”

One solution Healey and her allies have suggested is housing migrants in private homes.

Demand for shelter has increased as Massachusetts struggles to find newly arriving migrants places to stay after hitting a state-imposed limit of 7,500 families in its emergency homeless shelter system in Nov. 2023. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Days after Healey’s declaration, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll (D) told the state, “Most importantly, if you have an extra room or suite in your home, please consider hosting a family. Housing and shelter is our most pressing need and become a sponsor family.”

The state is currently housing more than 1,400 families in 40 hotels in 28 cities around the state at taxpayer expense — and free for the illegal aliens. According to FAIR, the average stay for these families is 14 months of free room and board.

Now it looks as though the state is reaching out to non-governmental groups to step up the pressure on homeowners to take in migrants.

A group called Immigrant Support Alliance is holding seminars to help inform residents about bringing illegal immigrants into their homes to act as a “host home.” The next event is set to be held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, no less.

These steps have sent many wondering if the state intends to make more serious attempts to place illegals in people’s homes. One reason for that suspicion is that Massachusetts is the only state with a “right to housing” law for families, though it does not cover single homeless individuals.

By law, the state is forced to pay for shelter and housing for homeless families. But the state’s housing system is already overwhelmed.

New York City has a right to emergency shelter law and California has a law that requires the state to house runaway teens with or without parental consent, but Massachusetts is the only state that has a state-wide rule that automatically requires the state to house all homeless families.

It is a rule that has become increasingly costly to the left-wing state, and some lawmakers are seeking changes.

Last year, state Rep. Peter Durant (R-Worcester) noted that in 2022, the state was housing 15 families free of charge. In 2023, that number suddenly shot up to nearly 2,000 families. “Either we have had a massive spike of homelessness, or the vast majority of these people are illegal immigrants,” Durant said. The Office of Housing and Livable Communities said the state spent $2.6 million to house illegal families in 2023, but that cost is expected to rise to $10.7 million in 2024.

Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr raised the alarm over the state’s move to push illegal immigrants into people’s homes, and he especially worries about the safety of homeowners who were being asked to take in unknown, unidentified, and unvetted illegals.

“Joe Biden et al. have turned what was a decent, if woke neighborhood, into a Bidenville. The illegals are up all night, driving their unregistered scooters everywhere. Needles litter the gutters. The illegals are harassing young American girls and ‘verbally abusing’ adults,” Carr noted in an August op-ed.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) holds a press conference on the state’s emergency shelter system. (Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

This prompted Carr to ask, “Can the residents of, say, Dover or Weston choose between a MS-13 gangbanger and a member of Los Trinitarios?” as he bashed the liberal areas of the state for cheering as illegal aliens are placed in the middle and low-income neighborhoods.

Carr makes a good point, though. Will the state take responsibility for guaranteeing the safety of homeowners who have elected to take in some of Healey’s illegal immigrants? How will homeowners know if they are opening their doors to people with criminal records? Will they be assured that these illegals are not bringing in diseases that had once been considered nearly stamped out in the U.S.?

How will these homeowners know that their own children will be safe after parents bring into their homes jobless, homeless illegal aliens who have already proven to be amenable to breaking our laws?

Finally, does Gov. Healey have the power to require citizens to take illegal immigrants into their homes? After all, the “right to housing” is also a law. How far can Healey go to uphold that law? Thus far, state officials have elected not to answer those questions.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, or Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston.