Massachusetts to open new temporary shelter, adds eligibility requirements for families
CHELSEA - Massachusetts is opening another temporary shelter for migrant and homeless families, while also announcing new eligibility requirements for those staying in the "safety-net" sites.
Old Chelsea Soldiers Home to become safety-net site
The latest shelter will open in April at the former Chelsea Soldiers Home, which is currently vacant and scheduled to be demolished. The state opened a new veterans home in Chelsea in December, replacing the old facility that was the site of a COVID outbreak that killed 31 residents.
"As a building that was vacant, that was set to be demolished, and could be quite easily and readily repurposed into a safety-net site," Gov. Maura Healey said.
Gov. Healey's administration says the temporary shelter will be able to take in about 100 families. It will serve families with children or pregnant women who are waiting for placement in the state's over-capacity emergency shelter program. Families staying there will be able to get help finding work and stable housing, the administration said.
New requirements for families staying at temporary shelters
The state said that starting May 1, families will need to meet certain requirements to stay at the overflow sites in Chelsea, Cambridge and Roxbury, by showing they are taking steps to get out of the shelter system.
"But if they don't have a good reason for not fulfilling requirements then they will lose their spot," Healey said.
Those steps include:
- Applying for work authorization
- Participating in a workforce training program
- Submitting job applications
- Taking English classes
- Searching for housing
Families will have to show every month that they are following the new requirements.
"We have said for months now that our system is at capacity, and we do not have the space, providers or funding to continue expanding," Emergency Assistance Director General Scott Rice said in a statement. "Families will need to demonstrate that they've taken action to get on a path toward independence and out of shelter."
"This program needs constraints"
The state continues to bear the brunt of an issue they've long argued was a federal problem. Last week the state reported spending $75 million a month on the emergency shelter program. For 7,500 families - that comes out to $10,000 per family per month.
"I think all three of us understand that this program needs constraints," House Speaker Ron Mariano said. "That it will sink under its own weight unless we begin to look at ways in which we can control it."
But others worry the new process could bog down the state even more.
In a statement, Elizabeth Sweet, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy (MIRA) Coalition said:
"While we understand state leaders are responding to a humanitarian crisis that is without precedent here in Massachusetts, we are deeply concerned that forcing families to reapply for emergency shelter each month will create unnecessary red tape, sow confusion, and ultimately, place more families on the street," Sweet said. "Implementing deadlines will solve little when immigrants are already striving to leave the emergency shelter system and provide for themselves and their families as quickly as possible. Instead, state - and federal - leaders should focus on providing community service organizations the resources they need to support arrivals in pursuing work authorization, long-term housing, and case management services."
The governor billed it as a step toward accountability. "The whole idea of this is to divert people from our emergency shelter system," Healey said. "To get them on a different path."
