A month after the shelter program in Massachusetts reached its maximum capacity, the waitlist to enter the program continues to get longer. Those on the waitlist are housed in temporary overflow shelters all across the state. 

 

Approximately 50% of the people seeking shelter in Massachusetts are from other countries, according to a spokesperson from the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities. Currently, over 175 families are on the waitlist seeking shelter.

 

Some of the families from other countries traveled through jungles, oceans and trains crossing thousands of miles to either escape the dangerous environment of their home country or to seek a better opportunity.

 

On Nov. 9, the shelter program in Massachusetts reached its maximum capacity of 7500 families and started to look towards converting buildings, such as the Massachusetts Department of Transportation Building, to become overnight overflow shelters to provide a place to sleep for those who have not been accepted into the program yet. 

 

Miguel Linares, a migrant from Venezuela, was staying at the MassDOT overnight shelter before the state moved all of the families staying there to a different shelter with more capacity in Quincy. 

 

“I decided to leave my country, Venezuela, because everything became too difficult, the prices started going up, the minimum salary is 10-15 dollars a month, which isn’t enough to afford anything,” Linares said in Spanish. “There’s no opportunity to grow and succeed, which is why I decided to come here, to try and give my children a better future. 

 

Linares said since the MassDOT shelter was only an overnight shelter, it was difficult taking care of his young children throughout the day.

 

“The shelter I’m in now it's been complicated, especially because of the kids, because we are woken up at 5 a.m. then we have to go another place and we have to always carry our things because they don’t let us leave our things there and then they open up the place to sleep there at 6 p.m.,” Linares said.

 

Throughout the day, some of the migrants on the waitlist waited in the lobby of the MassDOT building, counting down the hours until it was time to go to sleep.

 

Sofia Gontrar, a migrant from Haiti who immigrated to escape violence and kidnappings, expressed her frustrations with this arrangement.

 

“It’s very uncomfortable, because most of us have kids and we spent the whole day sitting down not knowing where to go … and there’s no consideration for those who have a family,” Gontrar said in Spanish. “It’s more difficult especially for those who have babies, two [or] three babies, it isn’t adequate for a child.

 

The YMCA in Chinatown, in an effort to provide a space during the day for the families at the MassDOT shelter, opened its doors and provided swimming and recreational activities for many children.

​

However, some families still stay out on the street. 

 

“We have to carry the little amount of things we’ve been gifted from other people and it’s hard having the kids out on the street, they fall asleep on top of you and there’s nowhere for them to be laid down,” Linares said. “It’s complicated regarding the kids especially because it’s so cold right now.”

 

Around 34% of people experiencing homelessness from 2011 to 2018 in Suffolk County visited hospitals for cold-related illnesses, some of which include hypothermia and frostbite, according to a presentation from the National Association of Health Data Organizations. Around 18,400 people are experiencing homelessness in Massachusetts as of 2019, according to the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless.

 

Alba Contreras, an immigration lawyer based out of Roxbury, said the temporary night housing is not a sustainable solution.

 

“Where are these people going during the day? Where are we expecting them to go? Winter is coming,” Contreras said. “January is one of the coldest and hardest months to live in New England.”

 

On Dec. 4, a contested $3 billion spending bill was signed that will provide over $250 million in funding to the state’s shelter program. However, this funding will not be used towards expanding the program, rather to “support and maintain” the current operation.

 

“I believe [in] early November, that’s when the determination was made by the state that because of those limited financial resources, staffing resources and literal physical spatial resources that we couldn’t expand beyond 7500 families,” a spokesperson from the EOHLC said. 

 

Contreras said she believes that the influx of migrants and the strain it's having on the shelter system has “been building up” because of the lack of affordable housing in the city as well as the fact that Boston is what’s known as a “sanctuary city.”

 

Sanctuary cities are cities that have voted to not provide resources to federal immigration officers to help them enforce immigration law, according to Learning for Justice, an organization dedicated towards racial justice. Sanctuary cities, such as Boston, have voted to not allow immigration officers to come to court proceedings to arrest people under a deportation warrant.

 

Boston, being a sanctuary city, is where many states that see a large influx of migrants at their border, such as Texas, send as many migrants to Massachusetts as they can. Additionally, according to a spokesperson from EOHLC, the state does not have the ability to restrict travel into its borders.

 

With no expansion of the program and no restriction of the amount of migrants entering Massachusetts, the state’s temporary solution for the migrants on the waitlist is to connect them to temporary shelters until enough people leave the program and create space for people on the waitlist. 

 

Contreras said the overnight shelters do not address the deeper problem that Massachusetts has.

 

“I think these solutions are great short term, but I think they’re just band aids,” Contreras said. “The reality is we’re a college city, so we have this influx of students where families that are working here can’t compete with a student that might be able to pay rent that’s double the price of what this family was paying.”

 

Contreras proposes that a long-term solution to alleviate the migrant crisis would be to change zoning laws in Massachusetts to allow a more permanent transformation.

 

“I think COVID has taught us that a lot of things can be done from home, so a lot of those commercial units in downtown Boston and State Street are not being occupied,” Contreras said. “We can’t keep an area commercial when there [are] no commercial tenants there. Does that make sense? That’s wasteful.”

 

Aside from reshaping zoning laws, Contreras proposes that other nearby cities in the Greater Boston area also house migrants within their cities. 

 

An example of another city that has partnered with the state government in alleviating the migrant crisis is Quincy. Many of the migrants that were housed at the MassDOT shelter were recently moved to East Nazarene College which has the ability to house up to 57 families, according to a spokesperson at the EOHLC.

 

While the East Nazarene college shelter provides shelter throughout the day and night, the people that are staying there are still on the state’s shelter program waitlist. 

 

“They don’t really give us a time, we just see that we sleep somewhere, they move us around but we don’t know it’s unknown,” Gontrar said. “It’s difficult and it’s a lot of work. It doesn’t just cost money, sometimes it costs your life.”

 

“It’s obviously frustrating because they’re taking us from here to there and we don’t know where we’ll end up,” Linares said. “I can’t expect to be given more, they’re giving us a helping hand but we’re trusting in god that everything works its way out soon.”

 

An aspect of the state’s shelter program is to help many migrants receive work authorization through MassHire, which according to the spokesperson from EOHLC, registered more than 750 people. Without being accepted into the shelter program, however, many migrants will not even be able to work in the country. 

 

“I want to work to help other immigrants coming into the US like me,” Gontrar said. “Right now it is a dream, I’m not sure it will be a reality. I’m not sure if it will ever be a reality.”

 

“My ideal life would be to get ahead since up till now I haven’t succeeded with what I had in mind,” Linares said. “I want to work and I want to ensure a better future for my children, a better education and I want to give them a life of opportunity.”

 

Contreras, having worked with clients who are currently on the waitlist, said the process of getting off the waitlist can take a significant amount of time if you are someone who is not currently in dire need of assistance, such as someone who is pregnant in their third trimester.

 

“I have personally seen people stuck on the waitlist for years,” Contreras said. “I have never personally with my own eyes never seen somebody move in the list in less than nine months.”