The Federal Emergency Management Agency handed the Healey and Wu administrations $1.9 million to expand shelter and transportation services in Massachusetts for newly-arrived migrant families.
The federal funds are flowing to Massachusetts and Boston a week after Gov. Maura Healey made a public plea for help from the Biden administration to deal with overflowing emergency shelters and an influx of migrants from other counties.
But the funds may not be a direct answer to Healey’s call for help despite the timing. Boston officials applied for the funding earlier this summer with the Executive Office of Health and Human Services as a sub-applicant, according to a Healey administration statement sent on Friday.
The city plans to use the money to transport eligible families between shelter and service providers, “as well as fund temporary hotel rooms for eligible people, which will be staffed by contracted emergency housing service providers, the Healey administration said.
State officials said they will use the funds to pay off leases for emergency housing at a college dorm in Quincy that has been set up to shelter up to 58 families experiencing homelessness, including migrants.
“Our administration will continue to use every resource at our disposal to address the unprecedented rise in migrant families arriving in our state in need of housing and services,” Healey said in a statement.
More than 5,800 families, including children, pregnant women, and migrants, are in state shelters, according to the Healey administration. That is an increase from the 5,550 families that were in state shelters as of Aug. 7.
Mayor Michelle Wu said the money will help the city and state “address the needs of families.”
“We are thankful to FEMA for awarding this funding and look forward to continuing to collaborate with federal partners on work authorizations, additional funding, and reforming our immigration system to welcome and support families in a dignified way,” Wu said in a statement.
The Herald reached out to a local FEMA spokesperson for additional details.
At a press conference last week and in a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Healey said Massachusetts “can no longer” handle the shelter crisis alone.
“We need federal partnership, federal funding, and urgent federal action to meet this moment and to continue to serve some of our most vulnerable families,” she said.
A spokesperson declined earlier this week to specify just how much money Healey wants to see from the federal government but said the administration was in touch with federal officials.
A U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said the department provided more than $2.8 million in funding to the City of Boston through a handful of shelter- and food-related programs.
“The administration will continue to collaborate directly with city and state officials to coordinate our efforts and we continue to call on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform,” the spokesperson said.
This is a developing story.