Two dozen families, many of them migrants, were forced to relocate due to a mold infestation at an emergency shelter in Boston's Brighton neighborhood.
Massachusetts says 24 families are being relocated from the former Charles River Motel on Soldiers Field Road. The situation is causing frustration for those who rely on the essential assistance.
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The families will stay at a temporary shelter while the mold is cleared from the rooms.
One woman told NBC10 Boston she's been sounding the alarm for months.
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"I was so angry, I was so upset, and honestly, there were so many times I would call my godmother and I would just cry and be like, 'This is unfair, it's unreasonable,'" said Kimrah Minuty.
She and her daughter spent 10 months living at the emergency shelter.
Minuty says the moment she stepped foot into the building, there were many red flags, like mice, bedbugs and mold in their bedroom.
She says she has been making phone calls and sending emails to the people in charge since July of 2023 to explain the situation, but no one took her seriously.
"I started noticing there were spots on our walls and air conditioning units had black stuff on it," Minuty said. "My daughter never had asthma, now she needs an inhaler."
More on emergency shelters in Massachusetts
"The health and wellbeing of families in shelter is a top priority," Massachusetts' Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities said in a statement Friday. "As soon as we were made aware of mold at this site, they took steps to temporarily relocate the families and directed the operator of the facility to remediate the situation."
The motel is privately owned by JHM River LLC, a firm in Lexington, but the Catholic Charities organization runs the case management inside this shelter.
"We are not the owners of this building and we have alerted the right people to this and when there was the situations with the bed bugs, right away exterminators came in," said Beth Chambers of Catholic Charities of Boston.
The state did not say how long it will be until families will be allowed back to this shelter.
NBC10 Boston reached out to the owners of this property, but has not yet heard back.
