I-Team: Homeless Busing

CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) - Massachusetts has been paying millions of dollars a year to keep homeless families in hotels and it turns out the expenses don't stop there.

The 22News I-Team reveals how more families are moving into our state, driving school transportation costs up.

School districts are reporting the number of homeless students is only going up.

There are thousands of people in Western Massachusetts who are homeless and temporarily living in shelters and hotels. Many of them have kids who need to get to school and the transportation to get them back and forth, doesn't come cheap.

Last school year, the state spent $13,271,007 on homeless transportation, up from the $10,406,667 the year before.

The 22News I-Team researched our local communities where homeless are living in hotels, like Chicopee, and school transportation costs have increased dramatically over the last 5 years where costs are now nearing $500,000 a year.

One reason costs are so high is federal law allows families to decide if they want to send their student to the school district their hotel is in or the last district they lived in so some kids are bused well beyond town lines.

For example, we found there are students living in Holyoke who are bused out as far away as Palmer, Belchertown, and Northampton.

It's not just Western Mass residents, Chicopee School district's Alvin Morton says they recently had a number of families move to Chicopee from out of state.

"They come as far as North Carolina, South Carolina, Puerto Rico , New York, New Jersey, different places like that," Morton said.

Massachusetts is unique as it a 'right to shelter' state.

However, Massachusetts State Senator Jim Welch says the state legislature recently passed reforms in an attempt to crack down on out-of-state families getting benefits before Massachusetts residents.

"We want to make sure that we're doing the most we can for those people who are from Massachusetts rather than those from other states," Sen. Welch said.

Welch says the state budgeted about $12 million dollars to help communities pay for the rising homeless transportation costs, although their ultimate goal is to put fewer people in hotels and more in their own homes.

"On all fronts, it's a policy that needs to be eradicated, it needs to be ended and we're working toward it, its certainly not moving as fast as some of us would like, but it is a very detailed policy and it's a policy that we need to continue to work on," Welch added.

Here's a look at what some other school districts in western Massachusetts have spent on homeless transportation:

West Springfield:

FY 12 - (September-December 201 only) $69,011
FY 11 - $110,109.50

Springfield:

FY 12 - $668,821
FY 11 - $563,222
FY 10 - $467,564