The state will begin to move migrant families, especially those sleeping overnight at Logan Airport, into a new overflow shelter at a Roxbury recreation center on Wednesday, acting quickly on a decision that surprised the community.
In a letter to elected officials, Gov. Maura Healey said the “temporary safety-net site” at the state-owned Melnea A. Cass Recreational Complex can hold up to 400 migrants, or 100 families, and promised to close the shelter displacing the youth and senior programming that runs out of the rec center by May 31.
Retired Lt. Gen. Scott Rice said the overflow site will focus particularly on the dozens of migrants who have been sleeping overnight at Logan International Airport in recent weeks and months, with emergency shelters at capacity.
“We appreciate the collaboration of the city, Roxbury elected officials, and the community who worked with us to ensure we could provide families with a safe and warm place to stay while minimizing the impact to the Roxbury community,” Rice, the administration’s emergency assistance director, said in a statement.
He added, “We are continuing to relocate recreation programs, ensuring the recreation center and the pool can reopen in June, continuing to make improvements to the center for the long-term benefit of the community, and prioritizing diverse and local vendors.”
A Healey spokesperson noted that the state is operating other safety-net sites in Cambridge, Quincy and Revere, and United Way also has those types of sites in Greater Boston and Central Massachusetts.
The other sites haven’t prompted the firestorm that greeted last Friday’s announcement that the governor was honing in on Roxbury’s Cass Center, criticism that came from the community and Boston’s mayor, Michelle Wu, who said taking resources from an underserved community was “painfully familiar.”
“I think it’s a normal response,” the Rev. Miniard Culpepper, senior pastor of the Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist church, said Tuesday of the pushback. “I think part of the concern was that it happened so fast. We had a listening session prior to the listening session last night and then they’re coming tomorrow. I think those concerns are justified.”
Culpepper said there is a push-and-pull to the situation, where some people in the community are ready to welcome and help the migrants, and others are looking at how the Black and brown community has been treated “traditionally and historically,” and are “pushing back and saying, why the Black community?”
Not helping matters is the lack of development happening in Roxbury compared to booming areas like the Seaport, said Culpepper, whose grandfather Samuel H. Bullock Sr. founded the Pleasant Hill church and was active in the civil rights era.
“I think that’s why folks are so focused, because of the fight that it took to even live in Roxbury at the time,” Culpepper said, adding that while different voices are to be expected, “I think overall, the community’s going to pull together and make it work.”
Not only community members were caught off-guard, however, according to an email City Councilor-at-Large Erin Murphy sent to her colleagues and Council President Ruthzee Louijeune, obtained by the Herald, requesting that the mayor provide the body with a private briefing about the overflow site plan.
“All my information has come from the media, so I am requesting that the Council is given a briefing on the situation so we have the latest, accurate information,” Murphy wrote. “It is important that we are aware of all that is happening, where the current programming for seniors and families will be relocated, and what city resources will be needed to ensure a smooth transition for everyone involved.”
Council President Louijeune did not return a phone call seeking comment. Murphy told the Herald that per her emailed request, a virtual briefing for councilors has been scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Gov. Healey and Mayor Wu will join other elected officials for a walk-through of the Cass Center later that morning in Roxbury.
Healey’s letter stated that on-site services at the Roxbury overflow site will include 24/7 staffing to oversee day-to-day operations and engagement with families, including three meals a day, case management focused on identifying stable housing, around-the-clock security, laundry services, school enrollment for children, and transportation to the complex from family welcome centers, as well as to and from medical, immigration and court appointments.
The Healey administration also plans to provide legal assistance for work authorizations and support to identify potential employment, medical resources, and help for benefits enrollment for the migrant families.
According to the governor’s office, the state has committed to making significant improvements to the Cass Center, including hiring more staff and renovating facilities.
Many of these improvements are underway, a Healey spokesperson said, citing ongoing dialogue between the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the local delegation and the community, “to make sure these meet their needs.”
What those renovations would entail and the potential cost remains unclear, with Herald inquiries into a spokesperson for DCR and the office of state Sen. Liz Miranda, who represents Roxbury, going unanswered by deadline Tuesday.
Louis Elisa, a past regional director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), said the governor missed the mark when selecting the Roxbury recreation center as an overflow site, however, and that the Shattuck Hospital slated for redevelopment in Jamaica Plain would have been better equipped to deal with the migrant crisis.
Elisa, who has dealt with his fair share of humanitarian crises, said the plan to put people in a gymnasium in Roxbury was a bad idea, and made him recall the ill-fated decision to place people in the Louisiana Superdome during Hurricane Katrina.
“I’m in support of housing those migrants, but not at that facility,” Elisa told the Herald. “This has not been thought through. This is not the best spot. You’re going to stuff up to 380 to 400 people in the Cass with four bathroom stalls. That’s not intelligent. There are alternatives that would work a lot better.”
Joe Dwinell contributed.
