Mike Kennealy, Republican running for governor, says he warned Healey of shelter demand

Mike Kennealy a Republican running for governor declared he personally warned Gov Maura Healey about rising demand for state-run shelter services during a November meeting months before a spike in caseloads brought the crisis effort to a urgent point The meeting resurfaced a day after the State Auditor s Office circulated an audit that accused Healey s top housing deputies of failing to adequately assess and act upon increasing shelter caseloads during the early days of a predicament spurred by an influx of settlers to Massachusetts Kennealy who served as housing and economic improvement secretary under Gov Charlie Baker declared nothing really happened after he offered the heads-up to Healey and Lt Gov Kim Driscoll during a meeting inside the Attorney General s Office the afternoon of Nov Her claim that no one could have seen this dilemma coming I think is absurd I mean I warned her directly Kennealy explained The warning signs were everywhere I think for whatever reason they chose to ignore them A spokesperson for the governor mentioned Healey inherited a shelter system that was not equipped to handle the surge in families seeking housing that began in Gov Healey is the one who reformed the right to shelter law to implement a residency requirement limited the length of stay and required CORI checks Gov Healey is the one who is getting families out of hotels lowering caseload and lowering costs the spokesperson commented in a report DiZoglio s audit which alleged Healey approved improper and unlawful no-bid contracts has sparked a debate over whether the governor s band missed warning signs of an incoming swell of migrant arrivals and the escalating need for family shelter space In a letter responding to DiZoglio s document Healey s top housing deputy Secretary Ed Augustus argued that sparse people could have predicted a once in a lifetime surge in shelter demand The administration strongly rejects the suggestion that it should have foreseen what was in fact a historically unprecedented increase in demand for urgency assistance shelter services driven by international and national forces far beyond EOHLC s control Augustus disclosed But Kennealy contends that Healey and Driscoll at least understood his warning during the meeting This was not something unforeseen It s not something that happened all at once It s something where it was on a trend line right and there was ample warning about it he reported A source familiar with Healey s transition discussions revealed Kennealy s advice to the incoming administration focused only on increased funding to help expanded shelter limit Right-to-shelter and any other reforms were never mentioned the source reported referring to the decades-old statute that requires the state to provide shelter to homeless families with children and pregnant women Logan Trupiano a spokesperson for Kennealy stated the Healey administration is in full-blown damage control in the wake of this audit It s no surprise they ve conveniently forgotten the specifics of the conversation and are attempting to deflect responsibility Trupiano reported Top Democrats in the Legislature publicly stated they would not work with the Baker administration on a fix they would only work with incoming Gov Maura Healey Apparently the Democrats on Beacon Hill forgot to follow through The meeting between Kenneally Healey and Driscoll came during the transition between the Baker and Healey administrations and was part of a series of sit-downs Healey had with Baker s outgoing cabinet secretaries to learn about their work It also took place as Baker was unsuccessfully trying to persuade Beacon Hill Democrats to approve millions in extra funding for the urgency shelter undertaking amid a surge of families arriving in Massachusetts from Afghanistan Haiti Venezuela and Ukraine Days before the sit-down between Kennealy and Healey Baker filed a million spending bill that sought to bring new shelter units online and cover the projected increase in the emergency assistance project through the end of fiscal year Kennealy the then-secretary of housing and economic expansion also tried to convince lawmakers to pass the bill in a Dec letter to budget chiefs Rep Aaron Michlewitz of the North End and Sen Michael Rodrigues of Westport In the letter Kennealy reported that representatives started ramping up the urgency assistance effort in August including by establishing additional shelter space at Salem State University a temporary intake site on state-owned land at Devens and placing families in hotels and motels But money to keep expanding the shelter system would run out in days and the administration would be forced to operate only the existing structure of units Kennealy and then-Housing and Area Expansion Undersecretary Jennifer Maddox reported in the letter Without adequate appropriations to expand quota it is probable that the EA system will be unable to accommodate families who otherwise would be forced to remain in unsafe situations or sleep in cars urgency rooms or other places not intended for human habitation the two noted in the letter Lawmakers never advanced the statute to Baker s desk in the final days of the - legislative term But months later Beacon Hill Democrats approved a similar spending bill from Healey that included millions for the crisis shelter venture Healey herself acknowledged that demand for crisis shelter for significantly increased and the urgency temporary shelter system is at ceiling in a letter to lawmakers sent Jan or only weeks after she took office While the Department of Housing and Locality Improvement DHCD has been working to place vulnerable people and expanding maximum to meet its revised caseload projections crisis assistance funds have been depleted As a right to shelter state the commonwealth is committed to providing safe temporary shelter to these families Healey announced Mike Kennealy Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill Boston Herald