Gov. Maura Healey declared a state of emergency in Massachusetts Tuesday as local emergency shelters fill up with an ever-increasing number of migrants arriving from other countries and surging housing costs hurt residents already here.
Healey is the latest governor to turn to emergency action to respond to migrants fleeing unstable conditions in their home countries. The Massachusetts Democrat also paired the declaration with a full-throated appeal to the federal government for funding and expediting work authorizations for migrants, which she said was a primary driver of the emergency.
At a press conference inside the State House with shelter providers, faith leaders, and other advocates, Healey said the emergency declaration directs local officials to utilize “all means necessary” to secure housing, shelter, and health and human services to address the “humanitarian crisis.”
“These families include newborns, very young children, and expecting mothers. It’s more families than our state has ever served, exponentially more than our state has ever served in our emergency assistance program,” Healey said. “These numbers are being driven by a surge of new arrivals in our country who have been through some of the hardest journeys imaginable.”
A steady stream of migrant families arriving in Massachusetts over the past year has put a strain on the state’s emergency shelter system. As space dwindled, the Healey administration turned to everything from hotels and motels to college dorms and military bases to house people.
A spokesperson for the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities said 5,550 families were in state shelters as of Monday morning — 1,887 in hotels, 3,546 in permanent shelter, 62 at Joint Base Cape Cod, and 55 in a college dorm in Quincy.