MassGOP: Healey Failed to Disclose Knowledge of More No-Bid Migrant Contracts

MassGOP Questions if Similar Contracts are Being Negotiated Within HomeBASE Program

7.14.25

 

BOSTON, MA — The Massachusetts Republican Party accused Governor Maura Healey of failing to acknowledge she knew about more no-bid contracts for migrants following a new report by the Boston Globe indicating that one state vendor handed out a million-dollar contract to a member of its board of directors.

 

Valley Opportunity Council, a Chicopee nonprofit, received millions of dollars from the Healey administration in 2023 to provide shelter for migrants and illegal immigrants. Shortly thereafter, it gave $945,865 to Key Food Marketplace, a local grocery chain, to deliver meals to the migrant shelter. The owner of Key Food sits on the board of directors of Valley Opportunity Council.

 

State officials investigated the contract in November 2024, more than a year and a half later, without acknowledging the existence of another no-bid contract in the state shelter system.

 

The Healey administration previously awarded tens of millions of dollars in no-bid contracts at the height of the migrant crisis, including to provide Mercedes taxi services to migrants and meals from Spinelli’s, an East Boston restaurant whose owner has donated over $10,000 to Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll since 2019, with the most recent donation in November 2024 for $1,000.

 

MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale called on Governor Healey to release the records of property owners who are receiving money from the HomeBASE program, which is projected to spend about $100 million this year subsidizing rent for migrants moving into apartments across Massachusetts.

 

“The abuse of taxpayer dollars, coupled with a stunning lack of oversight by Maura Healey and her administration, will define her legacy as governor,” said MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale. “Friends, favors, and failures continue to emerge even as she declares that the migrant crisis is over. Governor Healey should rip off the Band-Aid and tell the public whether these same oversights are occurring in the HomeBASE program.”

 

Background:

 

On Monday the Boston Globe reported that Key Food Marketplace received nearly $1 million from a vendor contracted by the Healey administration to house migrants and illegal immigrants. (Boston Globe, 7/14/25)

 

The Healey administration spent roughly $1 billion per year on the migrant crisis, including through no-bid contracts with businesses whose owners donated to her campaign. (Boston Globe, 4/19/24)

 

The state’s HomeBASE program experienced a fivefold increase in spending between 2023 and 2025, suggesting that thousands of property owners and management companies may be anonymously receiving more no-bid state funding. (Boston Herald, 6/27/25)

 

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