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A4 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 24 July 2024
Massachusetts issues tighter restrictions on access to homeless

shelter system

By STEVE LeBLANC the state barred homeless
Associated Press families from sleeping over-
BOSTON (AP) — Massachu- night at Logan Internation-
setts Gov. Maura Healey al Airport in Boston.
unveiled new restrictions on Families on the emergency
the state’s homeless family assistance shelter waitlist
shelter programs Tuesday. who had been sleeping at
Beginning Aug. 1, families Logan have been offered
who aren’t prioritized for transfers to the state’s safe-
placement in emergency ty-net system, including a
assistance shelters will be Norfolk site that opened to
eligible to stay at overflow accommodate up to 140
sites for just five days. families.
Healey said she was tight- Beginning June 1, the state
ening restrictions on emer- also began limiting how
gency assistance system long homeless families
eligibility because of the can stay in shelters to nine
system’s “continuing ca- months. After that, families
pacity constraints” and the are eligible for up to two
need to protect its financial 90-day extensions.
sustainability in part due to A passer-by walks through a portion of the Cass Recreational Complex which has been turned The latest restrictions are
the influx of migrants to the into a temporary shelter site for families experiencing homelessness, Jan. 31, 2024, in Boston. another departure from
Associated Press
state. the the state’s unique 1986
Families will be prioritized at risk of domestic violence, respite center will be re- the state Republican Party, right-to-shelter law, which
for placement in emergen- she said. quired to wait six months or said Healey “is finally imple- guaranteed homeless fam-
cy assistance shelters if they Families who aren’t pri- more for placement in the menting some of the mea- ilies shelter without restric-
have been made home- oritized for placement in emergency family shelter sures we’ve been advocat- tions.
less by a no-fault eviction emergency assistance system. ing.” Last year, Healey declared
or by sudden or unusual shelters will be eligible to “We have been saying for Earlier this year, Healey a state of emergency, cap-
circumstances that were stay at what the adminis- months now that the rapid announced that families ping shelter capacity at
beyond their control, such tration refers to as “tempo- growth of our Emergency would have to recertify ev- 7,500 families.
as a flood or fire. They will rary respite centers” where Assistance shelter system is ery month to remain in Mas- Healey said her administra-
also be prioritized if at least they can stay for only five not sustainable. Massachu- sachusetts overflow shelter tion has focused on getting
one family member is a vet- days. Such families are cur- setts is out of shelter space, sites, in part by document- immigrants work authoriza-
eran, Healey said. rently eligible to stay for 30 and we simply cannot af- ing their efforts to find a tions, English classes, and
Families will also continue days at overflow shelters ford the current size of this path out of the system, in- placed into jobs to give
to be prioritized if they have and can apply to extend system,” Healey said in a cluding by looking for hous- them the tools they need to
significant medical needs stays. As of Aug. 1, families statement. ing or a job. move into stable housing.q
or newborn children, or are who stay at a temporary Amy Carnevale, who chairs The change comes after

Antisemitism runs rampant in Philadelphia schools, Jewish group

alleges in civil rights complaint

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM ulent wave of antisemitism” Tuesday. students who engage in dis- combatants and civilians.
Associated Press that swept through class- The district, among the larg- crimination and harassment. Most of the focus has been
The Philadelphia school dis- rooms after Hamas attacked est public school systems in The ADL also wants training on protests that rocked col-
trict has failed to protect Israel on Oct. 7, according the U.S., has ignored persis- for faculty, staff and students lege campuses this spring,
Jewish students from “a vir- to a federal complaint filed tent harassment and bullying and the removal of antise- leading to thousands of ar-
of Jewish students, some of mitic posters, flags and other rests. But a recent congres-
whom have been forced material on school property. sional hearing spotlighted
to drop out, lawyers wrote A school district spokesper- antisemitism in K-12 educa-
in the complaint. Some son declined to comment on tion, with the leaders of New
teachers and administrators an active investigation. York City Public Schools, the
have spread inflammatory Colleges, universities and Montgomery County Public
anti-Jewish and anti-Israel high schools nationwide Schools in Maryland, and the
messages on social media have seen a wave of pro- Berkeley Unified School Dis-
and even in the classroom Palestinian student protests trict in California all vigorously
without repercussion, the in response to Israel’s war denying they had failed to
complaint said. against Hamas in Gaza. The address hostility toward Jew-
The Anti-Defamation League, war began when Hamas ish people.
a prominent Jewish advo- attacked Israel on Oct. 7, Like Philadelphia, New
cacy group, asked the U.S. taking hostages and killing York City and Montgomery
Department of Education’s 1,200 people, mostly civil- County are facing Education
Office of Civil Rights to order ians. The toll in Gaza recently Department civil rights inves-
the district to issue a state- surpassed 39,000 Palestinians tigations into allegations of
ment denouncing antisemi- killed, according to Gaza’s antisemitism. The ADL filed a
The School District of Philadelphia headquarters are shown in tism and to take disciplinary Health Ministry, which does complaint against Berkeley
Philadelphia, Tuesday, July 23, 2024. action against teachers and not distinguish between in California state court.q
Associated Press