Enough with arbitrary shelter caps.

This Mother’s Day thousands of women and their children will not be enjoying a celebratory brunch but will instead be spending their time in a shelter, in a car, or on the street in survival mode because they are unhoused. With 7,490 families in shelter around the state, the system is maxed out. Here at Economic Mobility Pathways (EMPath), we too are at capacity with nearly 160 women and 200 children in our shelters.

As someone who has experienced housing insecurity, I understand what it means to spend the night sleeping in a shelter bed and feel dread. I also know that there is a path forward — out of shelter, into housing security, and up the economic ladder.

But that path must not be dictated by a date on the calendar. When Massachusetts lawmakers approved an arbitrary nine-month cap on emergency shelter stays, they put an additional burden on already vulnerable families. Shelter providers and front-line staff are already stretched thin and will now be responsible for asking already traumatized families to pack up and leave. Women and their families should be exiting shelter because they have access to safe, stable housing and comprehensive support that helps them meaningfully move forward and work toward economic prosperity.

At EMPath, we have a long history of innovating and evolving to meet the needs of women and families, tracing back to our founding in 1824 when we provided shelter for young “unwed mothers” who were being turned away elsewhere. Today, as part of our multifaceted approach to disrupting poverty for families, every individual in our direct-service programs, including those in-shelter, is paired one-on-one with a mentor through our research-backed coaching model. This breakthrough approach creates an opportunity for women and families to decide for themselves what their needs are and have the support of a mentor as they work through how to best achieve these dreams. For so many of us, including myself, the help of a mentor can be instrumental in strategizing around big ideas, trouble-shooting challenges, and charting a path forward.

Of the individuals who exited our shelters to stable housing last year, 100 percent remained in stable housing one year later. Upon exiting shelter, EMPath families have improved their credit scores, grown their savings, and strengthened their family stability. Our families go on to secure well-paying jobs, complete educational programs, and some even purchase their own homes. More than 1,000 organizations worldwide use our impactful coaching method.

To address this crisis, shelter providers must work together with the Commonwealth and other agencies to implement sustainable solutions to successfully transform the system. People are not languishing in shelter because they are comfortable, unmotivated or lazy. They are there because the system is failing them.

We need deeper investments in housing assistance, such as the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program, Rental Assistance for Families in Transition, and HomeBASE, and we must tackle our longstanding housing affordability crisis. It’s why in my first week as mayor of Boston in 2021, I invested $5 million in rental assistance that provided a lifeline to tenants and landlords at a time when families were at risk of massive evictions due to job losses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Similarly, HomeBASE, which helps with move-in costs, security deposits, and housing vouchers, has been essential to helping EMPath families exit shelter. In just over two years, nearly 170 families have exited an EMPath shelter using HomeBASE.

The state shouldn’t be shortsighted and allow women and their families to be kicked out of shelter because of an artificial date on the calendar. We must instead look at what stands between them and a stable future and meet them where they are —– and, more important, where they dare to dream. When you help a woman advance, you help an entire family and an entire community. We owe it to all moms in the Commonwealth to do better.

Kim Janey is president & CEO of Economic Mobility Pathways and former mayor of Boston.

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