Nine SouthCoast communities sheltering migrants through state of emergency. What that means

Nine cities and towns on the SouthCoast are now hosting hundreds of unsheltered families, as the state continues to use hotels across the state to supplement the state’s emergency shelter system.

“It has not been overwhelming. It has just been quick,” Mallory Aronstein, town administrator for Swansea, said during a recent board of selectmen meeting. “Really we’re just trying to continue open lines of communication with decision makers from the state.”

Governor declares emergency over lack of shelter

For decades, Massachusetts has had a “right to shelter” law that requires the state to shelter pregnant people and eligible families with children.

On Aug. 8, Gov. Maura Healey declared a state of emergency around the number of migrant families arriving in the state and the lack of available placements in shelters, saying the state's family shelter system had become overwhelmed. Since then, the state has placed migrant families and pregnant women, plus unhoused families already living in Massachusetts, in dozens of cities and towns across the state. Most of the placements have been in state-funded hotel rooms.

On Oct. 7, Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities press secretary Kevin Connor said there were 6,828 families in the state emergency family shelter system. The system has had to expand each month since August of last year, he said, a need driven by rising shelter costs and an increase in the number of migrants arriving in Massachusetts.

“More than 80 cities and towns across the Commonwealth have stepped up to host families in need, and we appreciate their compassion and willingness to partner with the Commonwealth in this exceptional and ongoing effort,” he said.

SouthCoast cities and towns sheltering families

A spokesperson for the state’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities confirmed that Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Fall River, Middleboro, New Bedford, Somerset, Swansea, Taunton and Wareham are all now housing families through the state's emergency shelter system.

Across those eight communities, 402 families are now living in temporary, long-term shelter. Of those, Taunton has the most with 162 families, followed by Fall River with 71 families and Middleboro with 54.

Costs to town services

Connor said that, statewide, around half of the people living in the state’s family shelter system are children.

Leaders in small SouthCoast towns like Somerset and Swansea with relatively small English Language Learner populations have said they may struggle to accommodate a group of new students who speak multiple languages between them. School districts who receive new students through the family shelter system will receive $104 per day from the state for each student.

Leaders in multiple SouthCoast communities have said they are tracking all local government services being extended toward the unsheltered families, in the hopes of being reimbursed later by the federal government.

"The state pays for the cost of shelter and provides meals to sheltered families and the (Healey) Administration continues to seek additional support from the Federal Government. Discussions are ongoing as to how we can support towns who have provided any additional services to sheltered families," Connor said.

Towns collecting donations

Towns and local organizations have been collecting donations to aid the newly sheltered families.

Several towns have said they’ve already received an influx of donations. In Somerset, town officials who originally asked for shoes and clothing donations said they would switch to only accepting items like diapers, toiletries and wrapped snacks because so many donations had come in.

“The generosity shown by residents is beyond remarkable and thoughtful,” the town said in an announcement.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River, New Bedford, Taunton among MA cities hosting migrant families