Seventeen migrant families spent their first night Monday inside the Massachusetts State Transportation Building in Boston, which is serving as a makeshift shelter.
Cots fill some of the conference rooms to provide temporary housing for a limited number of families in need. It will be set up for approximately two weeks.
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The state said it is only a temporary option until an additional safety net shelter program is operational.
NBC10 Boston spoke with one of the migrants who slept there Monday. A woman from Haiti said they were forced out early in the morning. She said they chose to wait downstairs in the lobby for the rest of the day because they did not know where else to go.
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"I just want to rest," she said. "They sent us to this place. They sent us to another place, and it's cold outside for the children."
Advocates who held a vigil on the steps of the Massachusetts State House Monday night said the state needs to do better at making services clear and accessible.
"There's a lot of confusion about where they should go, who they should reach out to, have they already applied for shelter or are they on a waiting list," Kelly Turley of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless said.
Turley said advocates would also like to see more overflow sites, since the state's shelter system is at capacity.
"The state really needs to bring shelter capacity to scale and make sure there are safe places for families to be throughout the day," Turley said.
Gov. Maura Healey said the state is working on it.
"We're going to continue to evaluate and take care of people here in the state," Healey said.
The governor is also calling on state lawmakers to pass a bill that includes $250 million in critical shelter funding. Lawmakers went on holiday break last week without striking a deal.
"We need this bill done and want to be able to see that as soon as possible," Healey said.
