State appeals Springfield Housing Court judge's "two strikes" decision for homeless living in hotels

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is appealing a Housing Court judge's ruling that it equalize disciplinary standards for homeless families living in hotels and those in other shelter settings.

The state is appealing a judge's decision to equalize the so-called "two-strikes" rules for homeless families living in hotels. Republican file photo 

SPRINGFIELD — The state is appealing a Housing Court judge's ruling that it equalize disciplinary standards for homeless families living in hotels and those in other shelter settings.

Judge Robert G. Fields last month questioned the legality of the state's so-called "two-strike" rule for homeless families living in hotels; by comparison, homeless families in congregate and other types of shelters are afforded "six strikes."

The state's published list of rules for homeless families living in hotels include no visiting other rooms; no guests; no enlisting other tenants to baby-sit and unannounced spot-checks for cleanliness. A class action lawsuit was filed in January on behalf of a Greenfield couple and their four children who were ejected from a hotel room for what they allege were minor, and contested, infractions.

The Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, an advocacy group out of Boston, filed the complaint.

Matthew Sheaff, a spokesman for the state Department of Housing and Community Development, said the judge's order halted 300 termination proceedings and will stymie an already Herculean task to move more than 1,400 homeless families out of hotels.

"The safety of all families, particularly of children in our shelter system, is our utmost priority and we feel this ruling has the potential to compromise our ability to protect these families,” Sheaff said previously. "This really makes our work more challenging."

Ruth Bourquin, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the state has a set of rules separate and apart that cover health and safety issues; the lawsuit is not designed to to change those.

"If children are playing in the hallways trying to have a normal life as a child, but living in a hotel, that can be deemed leaving a child unattended," Bourquin told Fields during a status conference Friday in Springfield's Housing Court.

Michael Malamut, a special Assistant Attorney General arguing on the state's behalf, warned the judge that relaxing the rules could prompt a "broken window syndrome." The theory is a popularly accepted theory among criminologists related to urban decay, that essentially argues well-ordered environments help prevent a ripple effect and further disorder.

"This could have a very severe impact on program administration," Malamut said, suggesting the state may also pursue legislative relief.

Fields said he didn't believe the state made its case on that point.

"As the jurist here, you didn't make it. That's why I ruled the way I did," Fields told the attorneys.

To be precise, there are 1,426 homeless families living in hotels and motels across the state - an all-time high despite the fact that housing officials have thrown more funding and more staffing at the problem of homelessness over the past two years.

Chicopee leads the state with 224 homeless families living in hotels, followed by Waltham, which has 202. Elsewhere in the Pioneer Valley, there are 54 in Greenfield; 141 in Holyoke; 47 in Springfield; and 33 in West Springfield.

A further pretrial conference is scheduled for Jan. 2.