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Massachusetts crisis manager scrambling to find emergency shelter sites
Chris Lisinski
NOV. 30, 2023…..The Healey administration’s point person on the emergency shelter crisis wants to move “in other directions” before even considering the idea of using a convention center to house eligible families.
Flanked by administration officials and a member of President Joe Biden’s team to highlight efforts to accelerate migrant work permits, retired Lt. Gen. Scott Rice suggested it might be too heavy a lift to convert places like the Hynes Convention Center into temporary shelter to ease the pressure on a system that has strained beyond its usual boundaries and is costing hundreds of millions of dollars.
“Yes and no,” Rice replied when asked if convention centers were being considered for shelter. “The reason why I’m in the middle with that is because an open space is open to me to look at and consider, but there’s a lot of complexity with convention centers that it’s just — I’m going in other directions right now before we even consider that.”
Three weeks after the Healey administration officially imposed a cap of 7,500 families on the emergency shelter system due to record demand, Rice said Thursday that “about 100” families are on a waitlist with no spot immediately eligible to place them.
The crisis exploded this year as the state’s long-notorious lack of available and affordable housing collided with an unprecedented increase in migrants arriving in Massachusetts, where they are covered under a right-to-shelter law.
With the state on the cusp of its coldest months of the year, Rice said Thursday that the “trends are going down” for families coming to the Bay State, but cautioned against drawing any conclusions about underlying reasons.
“Some time in October, the numbers [of people] coming into the state started to go down. After that, we put a cap in place. After that, the weather got cold,” he said. “So, I don’t know the relationship between them all yet. I need more time to actually really answer that question.”
With shelters and some hotels full, state officials last week began using conference rooms in the MBTA’s downtown Boston office building to temporarily host up to 25 families overnight, and Rice said work continues to identify other locations for new shelter sites.
“Now that I’ve changed my work ethic and I’m working 30 hours a day, that’s primarily what I’m working on: trying to find places,” he said. “I don’t have locations now. We have several that we’re working at — large sites, small sites, sites that need some work, but we’re trying to get there so that we don’t have families out in the cold.”
Rice joined several other Healey administration officials, a Biden White House aide and frontline responders to highlight a clinic that he said has helped more than 1,700 people apply for permission to work in the United States.
Calling the clinic our “best success to get somebody on their feet, out of our shelter system [and] into our community,” Rice said talks are underway about launching another version in the future.
Massachusetts officials have highlighted work permits as a key step toward easing pressure on the shelter system. They have also urged the Biden administration to make federal funding to take some of the rapidly escalating shelter costs off of the backs of state taxpayers.
Dan Koh, deputy director of intergovernmental affairs for President Joe Biden, said at Thursday’s event that Biden “deeply, deeply believes” in ensuring local and state governments have the tools and resources they need.
Asked by a reporter if the Biden administration could do more to support states, Koh said the White House has “already provided millions to Massachusetts and we want to be able to do more in terms of funding.”
“Unfortunately, we have a bill in front of Congress that’s sitting there now. We’re doing everything in our power to make sure that that gets passed in an expedient fashion,” Koh, a former Boston City Hall aide and congressional candidate, said.
Rice said he is not too focused on funding, at least at the state level, as the Legislature moves toward potential compromise on a bill that would steer $250 million more toward emergency shelters.
“I really, really can’t answer that,” Rice said when asked how helpful the funding in the closeout budget — which Gov. Maura Healey requested in September — would be. “It’s not because I don’t want to. It’s because I’m so focused on the overflow sites and where we’re going to put people as the cold builds, and we have a waitlist that’s growing. So that’s my energy, and I leave all of that to other people.”
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MortisMaximus
November 30, 2023 at 7:30 pm
A real crisis manager would have fought from the start, by fighting the invasion through the open borders of America. This invasion is being allowed by compromised politicos leading straight to the Resident of the White House.
RedPilled
November 30, 2023 at 9:56 pm
Let us not forget Massachusetts is a sanctuary and right to shelter state.
Barack Warren
November 30, 2023 at 9:07 pm
The Bank Street Armory and Luke Urban Field House are both vacant. It’s time we do our part for people in need.
RedPilled
November 30, 2023 at 9:53 pm
What about your home Barack? I’m sure you can take in a few military aged migrant men. Just make sure they’ve been medically cleared and fully vaccinated.
JoeBamasCrackHouse
December 1, 2023 at 11:12 am
Empty out the nursing homes and the public housing units for these poor little asylum seekers. I say we also empty out the LARGE homes in the Highlands through eminent domain, we could surely fit thousands of immigrants in that neighborhood alone.
Antifa
December 1, 2023 at 3:13 pm
Well we know walls don’t work and we know technology and boots on the ground works but our clown car Congress doesn’t want to fund what works and a lot of brainwashed MAGAt cult fools still support a wall. But those same people also believe in giant conspiracies and spirits in the sky.
Biden want to use the money allocated for a useless wall for technology and boots on the ground but the court stopped him. And we probably can’t afford to fix the problem because of that huge tax cut for the rich and corporations that expires for us working suckers next year. But at least this administration is investing in infrastructure and people instead of tax cuts for the rich that cause most of the problems in this country. Hopefully Trump is the Republican nominee so he can totally destroy the Republican party and the Democrats can take over and fix all this mess. Hopefully he endorses a bunch of fascist MAGAt’s like he did in the midterms. Funny how they all lost! But yet they claim it was a giant election conspiracy that they can’t prove. They can’t accept the loss and the fact that they are the minority.
MortisMaximus
December 2, 2023 at 9:53 am
Funny how your deity JoeBama has sent billions of tax payer dollars to propagate proxy-wars around the globe and secure the borders of countries thousands of miles away from America. But hey the Uniparty Sycophants work together to keep the facade going in order to crush everyday Americans. Acting like the border can’t be secured because of money is comical and ridiculous. Spend a little time thinking about your comments, you’ve exposed yourself as a partisan Muppet. Here’s to another stolen election cycle in 2024, may you receive all of the political wishes you dream of. The Republic is dead and it is because of mentally deficient sentients who can’t see behind the curtain. God is Great!!!
Antifa
December 2, 2023 at 11:06 am
So comrade I guess you support Putin and Hamas? Since you support the American Hitler that loves strongman fascist like Putin this doesn’t surprise me.
If Trump was president Poland would be part of Russia now! I’m sure you support that.
MortisMaximus
December 2, 2023 at 2:09 pm
Full of ASSumptions. No suprise being you name yourself after a fascist demagogue group. Never a response to facts, always a detour out of reality.
AntifaCatPiss
December 9, 2023 at 3:46 pm
Antifas friends the democrats totally run Massachusetts and control two major pieces of the Federal Government, yet he wants to blame Trump for America’s ills. We know that Antifa has a Messianic Complex, not to mention he has the worst case of T.D.S AKA
Trump Derangement Syndrome ever seen. Antifa is obviously an offspring of Lucifer and thus the completely twisted view of reality. Go protest in traffic somewhere, you’ve lost the right to speak in Public Forums.