A majority of the Boston City Council signed onto a letter urging the governor to abandon her plan to kick migrant families out of overflow shelters after five days, saying that the state’s new policy will leave young children sleeping on the streets.

Nine of the 13 city councilors, largely from the body’s progressive wing, laid out their concerns with the state’s emergency shelter housing policy change, announced by Gov. Maura Healey last week, in a letter sent to the governor on Thursday, the same day the state’s new limit on overflow site stays took effect.

The councilors urged the governor to “reverse course” and satisfy the requirements of state law, by “supporting families arriving in Massachusetts seeking shelter” and reviewing “alternative solutions to this issue.”

“Housing is a human right, and we cannot sit idly by when faced with a policy that may result in young children being forced to sleep on our city streets,” the letter states. “We join together in opposition to this policy change that will fall heavily on immigrant families and the municipalities that will be left to deal with the consequences.”

The councilors said that while they understand that the state has limitations in regards to providing shelter to homeless and migrant families seeking refuge in Massachusetts — and is further hamstrung by the “absence of any meaningful action from the federal government” — they are “disheartened” as to how quickly a major change in policy was being implemented, “mere days after being announced.”

Following days of outcry from advocates, an informational document circulated on Wednesday outlining the Healey administration’s intention to help connect local and migrant families who have maxed out their time in overflow shelters with “safe, alternative housing,” before being kicked out.

The document also states that providers running overflow shelters “can grant administrative extensions at any point in a family’s stay” for up to 30 business days — a change the councilors said they saw as a “welcome alteration that will help mitigate the impacts of the 5-day rule,” but one that doesn’t go far enough.

Pursuant to the state’s right-to-shelter law, enacted in 1983, “the Commonwealth is obligated to provide shelter to families with children,” the councilors wrote.

“Allowing families to be kicked out of shelter after five days, even with the possibility of a slightly longer stay, and making families ineligible for more permanent shelter for six months, will nullify the mandate of this state law,” the letter states, while making a pitch for the governor to “reverse course.”

Healey’s office defended the latest action to place limitations on the state’s emergency shelter system, which is maxed out at roughly 7,500 families. Her administration also made changes last week to prioritize Massachusetts families and veterans over newly arrived migrants.

“Massachusetts currently does not have space available in Emergency Assistance shelters or at any of our four safety-net sites in Cambridge, Chelsea, Lexington and Norfolk,” Karissa Hand, a spokesperson for the governor, said in a statement.

Related Articles

Boston Police credit use of ShotSpotter with saving a shooting victim on Monday, but City Council remains skeptical

Boston mayor’s commercial tax rate plan clears the House, but hits a wall in the Senate

Boston’s Mass and Cass plan failed because it put housing before treatment, Massachusetts senator says

Boston City councilors, state senator seek emergency declaration over Steward closures

It’s ‘decimating our community’: Patients and staff on edge as Carney closure looms

“Family Welcome Centers do everything in their power to connect families with alternative options by offering travel to family and friends living elsewhere and offering HomeBASE and other diversion services, but it is essential that families understand the lack of shelter space before they travel here,” Hand added.

Hand went on to state that “the key reason for transitioning safety-net sites to temporary respite centers and limiting stays to five days is to free up space and provide short term respite to newly arriving families in need.”

“There are approximately 8,000 families in shelter in Massachusetts at present, including both longtime Massachusetts residents and newly arriving immigrant families, and unfortunately we do not have additional capacity at this time,” Hand added.

Signing onto Thursday’s letter to the governor, in order of how they appear, were Councilor Benjamin Weber, Council President Ruthzee Louijeune, and Councilors Enrique Pepén, Henry Santana, Julia Mejia, Liz Breadon, Brian Worrell, Gabriela Coletta Zapata and Tania Fernandes Anderson.

The City Council’s sole remaining progressive-leaning member, Sharon Durkan, and the three moderate councilors, John FitzGerald, Ed Flynn and Erin Murphy, did not add their names to the communication.