Last Friday, Governor Maura Healey’s administration announced system-wide changes to the Emergency Shelter System designed to lower costs of the pricey program.

As part of the changes, the Governor highlighted the “phasing out” of hotels and motels, saying they’ve proven to be the most expensive model and that they don’t provide an ideal environment to help families get back on their feet.

Despite the change in plans, InsideLowell has learned the former UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center in Downtown will continue to be used as an emergency shelter and that the state is renewing its option to use the facility for a second year, beginning January 1, 2025 and running through December 31, 2025.

In August of 2023, InsideLowell had reported on the state’s interest in the facility for that purpose, with Healey’s Office confirming a deal had been reached last November. UML stopped using the building for dorms that semester, and by the end of September, had cleared the calendar of hotel room bookings and conference events. However, families didn’t begin moving into the shelter until April 0f 2024, leading to some question as to when the 1-year lease was expiring and when the state would decide whether to exercise their option to add a second year.

Late this morning, Press Secretary Kevin Connor from the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities responded to our inquiry by confirming “the licensing agreement for the Lowell Inn and Conference Center will be extended for 1/1/25-12/31/25.”

Connor added “the state will be working with providers, municipalities, families, and others to make plans for hotel closures throughout Fiscal Year 2025 and 2026.”

A source at the university tells InsideLowell they’ve been “pleased with how smoothly the effort has been running over there.” 

The decision to use the prominent downtown building as a shelter for another year delays plans to determine its future use. UMass Lowell still holds a significant amount of debt on the property and despite interest on the part of Middlesex Community College in acquiring it for a number of different uses, it’s unlikely MCC alone would be able to unburden UML of that debt.

Lowell City Manager Tom Golden has spoken in the past about the importance of that building to downtown and the city as a whole, though until a final decision is made on the part of the university as to what they’ll do come January 1, 2026, all potential uses are purely speculative.