Gov. Healey announces upcoming closure of hotel shelters

BOSTON, Mass. (WLNE) — Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey announced that all of the state’s hotel shelters would close throughout the summer as the number of families needing shelter in the state drops.

The plans to close the hotel shelters, Healey said, are six months ahead of schedule, as she had previously directed the hotel shelters to close by the end of the calendar year.

The number of families currently in hotel shelters sits at slightly over 4,000, and Healey’s office expects that number to drop below that threshold in the near future.

Healey’s office said that that number is down from 2023, when 7,500 families were utilizing 100 hotel shelters in Massachusetts.

Currently, 32 hotel shelters remain open throughout the commonwealth.

According to Healey’s office, since the beginning of the year, more than double the number of families have left shelters than have entered shelters.