'No one's shutting the faucet off,' 43 Massachusetts hotels now emergency housing for immigrant families

By Louisa Moller

Updated on: August 1, 2023 / 6:23 AM / CBS Boston

FRAMINGHAM - More Massachusetts cities and towns are hosting immigrant families in hotels, stressing the state's already taxed emergency housing system.

On Friday, the city of Framingham was alerted that a dozen asylum-seeking families were being placed in a hotel in the City of Framingham.

The city of Marlboro has hosted roughly 100 families for several months in the Holiday Inn and Extended Stay hotels.

Some local leaders argue that the influx of new residents to the state is unsustainable.

Last fall, more than a dozen migrants were placed in a hotel in Kingston with little notice. Today, local organizers estimated that the number is up to 400.

According to data from the state's Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, 43 hotels are being used for emergency housing in 38 communities. Those hotels house roughly 1,800 families.

Since late 2022, the state has expanded its hotel and permanent emergency housing capacity by 40%.

Massachusetts is the only right to shelter state in the country which guarantees emergency housing to homeless families, but that picture isn't always pretty. In Marlboro, one Haitian immigrant, who wished to remain anonymous, said he is sleeping in the same bed with his pregnant wife, toddler, and his mother.

"We're putting sandbags around the sink, but no one is shutting the faucet off," said Marlboro Mayor Arthur Vigeant, who has spoken with state lawmakers and Congresswoman Lori Trahan about the issue.

Vigeant says he is particularly worried about meeting the needs of children and in the hotels who do not speak English.

"We have over 50 school age children which is very difficult to deal with right now because we have no space in our schools," Vigeant said. "We're dealing with it on a local level. The states are dealing with it. It's a federal issue."

Louisa Moller is a general assignment reporter for WBZ-TV.

First published on July 31, 2023 / 5:38 PM