State Auditor found the Healey administration's housing agency used improper and unlawful no-bid emergency contracts for shelter food and transportation in 2023-24; the agency rejected the finding, 2025

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In a report dated May 20, 2025, the Office of the State Auditor found that the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC), which runs the state's emergency family shelter program in the Healey administration, failed to adequately assess and act on rising demand, resulting in improper and unlawful emergency procurements for food and transportation. The audit covered July 1, 2021 through December 31, 2023, extended to June 30, 2024 for the emergency contracts. It found EOHLC bypassed competitive bidding, including an eight-month, $10 million no-bid food contract with Spinelli and a no-bid transportation contract with Mercedes Cab Company / Pilgrim Transit that began at $2.8 million and was later amended, and that the procurement files lacked sufficient evidence and documentation. The audit also stated that Gov. Healey's August 8, 2023 state-of-emergency letter did not explicitly waive procurement law, as the emergency statute requires. The audit makes findings against the agency and does not state that Healey personally directed the contracts. In its written response EOHLC rejected the finding as "fundamentally wrong and unfounded" and said the emergency procurements were proper and lawful given an unprecedented surge in demand. As reported by GBH, Secretary Edward Augustus said the overpayment on one vendor's deliveries was "just 0.02 percent of the contract." GBH reported that Healey, asked about the report the day it was released, said she had not yet seen it and, asked whether she would consider changes based on the Auditor's recommendations, said "I doubt it." The sources reviewed do not report a penalty.

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