Massachusetts – Demands Churches Who Offer Shelter to Homeless Meet State Criteria

The Old North Church - image Marriott Hotels

New England winters are hard, temperatures often drop to below freezing for weeks at a time, and those who have no access to shelters (given the overflow), will often appeal to a local church as it offers a place to survive the night. Enter the Commonwealth of Massachusettswho feels the need to tell Churches that they must follow certain guidelines in order to offer shelter!

The separation of Church and State aside (as so much is ignored regarding the Constitution in the Commonwealth, what’s one more thing), the Massachusetts Board of Building Regulations and Fire Prevention has decided that guidelines are in order as follows: (from Masslive.com)

Churches can now be used as temporary shelters for a maximum of 35 days – but for no more than seven consecutive days at any time – between Sept. 15 and June 15 each year.

A temporary certificate of occupancy must be obtained from the municipality, and no smoking is allowed in the church. In addition, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms must be installed and maintained.

Also, a plan showing occupancy capacity, a seating diagram, and the location of exits and aisles leading to exits must be posted near the main entrance, with a copy given to the Fire Department. The Fire Department must also both be notified before a church becomes a temporary shelter and know how many people will be sheltered.
While authorities are aware churches around the state have opened their doors as shelters in the past, they also want to find a balance between providing a place to sleep with fire safety concerns.

The Commonwealth has no problem using hotels as temporary shelters for the homeless and shelling out millions in taxpayer dollars – yet they do have a problem when it comes to a Church doing so for free. It boggles the mind that the Commonwealth, constantly in the red (see Mass Health Care), would want to discourage Churches (increased paperwork and regulations that possibly would cut into these non-profits budgets), who would be willing to lend a hand for free!

This situation (and many others)cannot be about control, it has to be about stupidity. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts should have a litmus test for all employees, appointees and let’s face it, elected officials, with the main criteria being “common sense”. A lack thereof would eliminate that person from the position. The millions being spent by the Department of Human Services for hotel stays could be used to actually purchase facilities (surely there must be hotels for sale?), immediately cutting costs per diem (they may even be able to grab a few properties for back taxes). Those facilities could be coordinated with a variety of departments, in order to offer a wide range of services to those living in the facility – once gainful employment could be found, rent could be applied to those who chose to remain in the building. This would serve to save taxpayer dollars, and give people a hand up, so to speak.

However, as this is the State of Denial of all things Reasonable, the concept would be to demand those places where a free night at the inn (Church), should be regulated out of existence. It simply flies in the face of reason.