BACK IN AUGUST, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll called on state residents to help deal with an influx of migrants from other countries by hosting a family in “an extra room or suite in your home.”
It’s unclear how many people stepped up in response to Driscoll’s appeal, but a report released earlier this week indicates big disparities among communities in terms of emergency shelter facilities. According to the report, 7,532 families are scattered across less than a third of the state’s 351 municipalities and the bulk of those families are located in just 21 communities.
The report from the Healey administration, relying on information as of December 12, provided the first detailed accounting of the state’s emergency shelter system, including its precarious financial state and a breakdown of families sheltered by municipality. Families stay in a variety of shelters, including larger dedicated buildings and scattered apartments, as well as hotels and motels. A breakdown by type of facility was not provided.
Boston, the state’s largest city, was home to the largest number of families in emergency shelter with 1,308, roughly 17 percent of the total.
Worcester and Springfield, the next largest cities, had 303 and 282 families, respectively
Rounding out the top 10 in terms of families are Lynn (280), Marlborough (193), Holyoke (177), Peabody (177), Woburn (173), Lowell (168), and Taunton (167). Only two of those municipalities, Lynn and Lowell, are among the state’s 10 largest cities.
Cambridge, the state’s fourth largest city, has only 34 families. Quincy, the seventh largest city, has none, although Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy is home to one of the state’s two welcome centers for migrants. New Bedford and Fall River, the ninth and tenth largest cities, have 28 and 75 families living in shelters, respectively.
Nearly two-thirds of the state’s municipalities have no families staying in state shelters. Most of those communities tend to be small, but the group includes Newton and Somerville, the twelfth and thirteenth largest cities. Newton officials say in early 2024 a “family navigation center shelter” capable of housing 100 people is scheduled to open at the site of a former nursing home.
Most of the state’s wealthier communities don’t have families staying in shelter facilities, including, in order of per capita income, Dover, Weston, Wellesley, Sherborn, Cohasset, Lincoln, Carlisle, Hingham, Winchester, Medfield, Sudbury, and Needham. Exceptions are Concord (95 families) Brookline, (33), Lexington (30), and Arlington (15).
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