As the pandemic surges on, Massachusetts has been transforming its hotels and motels into homeless shelters to provide a place to stay for those who had mild COVID-19 but nowhere to isolate. So far the Massachusetts Housing & Shelter Alliance (MHSA) has leased out about 1,000 hotels and motels as shelter space, with around 600 still in use, paid for with state and federal funds. Many who have stayed at the hotels and motels have reported not only better physical health outcomes and lower COVID-19 infection rates, as the hotels have been helpful as a stabilizing force in their life amongst the precarity of everything else going on.

The hotels are more quiet, comfortable, and have more privacy than traditional homeless shelters, thus allowing better mental health outcomes. The single-room style of hotels and motels are critically helpful for those who struggle in large group settings, whether its people with severe addiction, mental illness, disabilities, or chronic health conditions. It was also relatively easy to transition people from hotels/motels to more permanent housing with support services, with data from a 22-month period showing a 46% success rate, compared to a mere 16% from traditional homeless shelters.

Following the program’s wins, Massachusetts State Rep. Natalie Higgins is now sponsoring a bill that aims to pivot more homeless shelters away from the traditional congregate style and more towards the hotel style. Another nonprofit called Father Bill's & MainSpring has hopped onto the idea. They have purchased a struggling hotel to convert into a supportive housing apartment unit, and were able to convert the hotel for about half of what it normally costs to develop affordable housing.