The Healey administration deliberate to activate as much as 50 members of the National Guard to help new “townhouse-style” housing choices at Joint Base Cape Cod for households experiencing homelessness, officers mentioned Friday afternoon.
The new housing choices — which may instantly accommodate 16 households and as much as 60 if wanted — come as Gov. Maura Healey mentioned the state is experiencing a “steady rise” in shelter demand as a result of rising price of housing in Massachusetts, extra folks arriving from different international locations, and delayed federal work authorizations.
The administration additionally mentioned it deliberate to open a “Family Welcome Center” in Allston as a central entry level for households struggling to entry fundamental requirements. It will join them with important provides, providers, and transportation to a secure place to remain just like the models at Joint Base Cape Cod, the administration mentioned in an announcement.
“Our administration has been working hard to meet this unprecedented need and use every resource at our disposal to help families,” Healey mentioned in an announcement. “That’s why we are establishing a Family Welcome Center to serve as a central entry point to connect families, particularly newly-arrived families, with the support they need, as well as turning to Joint Base Cape Cod as a temporary, emergency shelter option.”
The welcome heart relies out of the Brazilian Worker Center’s workplace and can function “the primary referral mechanism for families to travel to [Joint Base Cape Cod],” the administration mentioned. Dedicated employees members can be charged with assessing households and figuring out their eligibility for housing on the base.
“In addition to shelter intake services for JBCC, the Family Welcome Center will provide basic necessities including food, baby formula, and diapers,” the administration mentioned in an announcement. “In the coming weeks, Family Welcome Center offerings will expand to include connection to health services, and assistance with enrollment in Department of Transitional Assistance programs, MassHealth, WIC, and other supports.”
The 50 National Guardsmen will help “state and local authorities, support base operations, and ensure the security of the base complex,” the Healey administration mentioned.
A Massachusetts National Guard spokesman mentioned the service members assigned to the shelter mission “will support base operations and ensure base security as part of an inter-agency effort led by the Healey-Driscoll administration.”
Housing models at Joint Base Cape Cod had been described as “townhouse-style” with furnished lodging and shared inexperienced house for recreation. The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency was within the means of contracting with a vendor to offer shelter program staffing, janitorial providers, laundry, linens, and medical providers.
More than 1,100 households had been dwelling in state-funded motel rooms, in response to knowledge final up to date on Thursday by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities’ Division of Housing Stabilization.
Eighteen households entered the emergency help shelter system on Thursday, 10 households went on to shelters, and 10 households had been positioned presumptively, in response to the information.
The housing disaster in Massachusetts is pushing the state’s most weak households into “precarious housing conditions’ and growing demand for emergency shelter, mentioned newly-appointed Housing and Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus.
“The new Family Welcome Center and additional shelter at Joint Base Cape Cod will help us relieve pressure on our emergency family shelter system with an inter-agency response to meet the needs of residents and families,” Augustus mentioned in an announcement.
The state additionally opened non permanent housing at Joint Base Cape Cod in September 2022 to accommodate 35 migrants who landed unannounced on Martha’s Vineyard after Gov. Ron DeSantis orchestrated their journey from San Antonio, Texas.
Some of the migrants stayed on the base for roughly three weeks earlier than they transitioned into different housing conditions.
Joint Base Cape Cod is a MEMA-designated emergency shelter and its current infrastructure supplies non permanent lodging which might be “well-equipped to meet the safety, security, and privacy needs of families,” mentioned Public Safety and Security Secretary Terrence Reidy.
“The growing demand for humanitarian support has been met with a collaborative spirit and ingenuity reflective of our commonwealth’s best values,” Reidy mentioned in an announcement.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”