The city of Boston is preparing to receive migrant families who have been spending their nights at Logan International Airport.
The Melnea A. Cass Recreation Center, located in the city's Roxbury neighborhood, is considered the best option to give these families a safer place.
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The recreation center, which belongs to the state, will be converted into a temporary shelter for these families, who have been sleeping at the airport.
The images of immigrant families sleeping at Boston's Logan Airport went around the world. Now Gov. Maura Healey is pointing to the rec center as a solution.
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But Boston Mayor Michelle Wu expressed her disappointment in a morning radio interview that the state chose Roxbury, a neighborhood where mostly Black people live and for decades has been marginalized with little to no investment, as the location for the largest temporary shelter in the state.
"There are no good options," Wu said during an interview with WBUR.
The mayor acknowledged that leaders have toured other spaces but none were ready to meet the urgent needs of the crisis.
The state plans to use the recreation complex in Roxbury until May 31, after which the center can resume its activities for the community.
If everything continues to move forward, families could move in as soon as Wednesday. They will be provided with food, health services, transportation and legal advice.
Massachusetts is a right-to-shelter state, but the number of migrant families arriving has strained the system and capacity has been capped at 7,500. The Healey administration has been scrambling to open new shelters as hundreds more families sit on a waitlist. State leaders have called for the federal government to intervene in the crisis.
The governor has also included $325 million for family shelters in her latest budget proposal, with a supplemental budget of $700 million so shelters can keep up with demand through next year.
