The Federal Emergency Management Agency handed the Healey and Wu administrations $1.9 million to increase shelter and transportation companies in Massachusetts for newly-arrived migrant households.
The federal funds are flowing to Massachusetts and Boston per week after Gov. Maura Healey made a public plea for assist from the Biden administration to cope with overflowing emergency shelters and an inflow of migrants from different counties.
But the funds is probably not a direct reply to Healey’s name for assist regardless of the timing. Boston officers utilized for the funding earlier this summer time with the Executive Office of Health and Human Services as a sub-applicant, in response to a Healey administration assertion despatched on Friday.
The metropolis plans to make use of the cash to move eligible households between shelter and repair suppliers, “in addition to fund non permanent resort rooms for eligible individuals, which might be staffed by contracted emergency housing service suppliers, the Healey administration mentioned.
State officers mentioned they may use the funds to repay leases for emergency housing at a university dorm in Quincy that has been set as much as shelter as much as 58 households experiencing homelessness, together with migrants.
“Our administration will continue to use every resource at our disposal to address the unprecedented rise in migrant families arriving in our state in need of housing and services,” Healey mentioned in a press release.
More than 5,800 households, together with kids, pregnant girls, and migrants, are in state shelters, in response to the Healey administration. That is a rise from the 5,550 households that had been in state shelters as of Aug. 7.
Mayor Michelle Wu mentioned the cash will assist the town and state “address the needs of families.”
“We are thankful to FEMA for awarding this funding and look forward to continuing to collaborate with federal partners on work authorizations, additional funding, and reforming our immigration system to welcome and support families in a dignified way,” Wu mentioned in a press release.
The Herald reached out to an area FEMA spokesperson for added particulars.
At a press convention final week and in a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Healey mentioned Massachusetts “can no longer” deal with the shelter disaster alone.
“We need federal partnership, federal funding, and urgent federal action to meet this moment and to continue to serve some of our most vulnerable families,” she mentioned.
A spokesperson declined earlier this week to specify simply how a lot cash Healey needs to see from the federal authorities however mentioned the administration was in contact with federal officers.
A U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson mentioned the division supplied greater than $2.8 million in funding to the City of Boston by a handful of shelter- and food-related applications.
“The administration will continue to collaborate directly with city and state officials to coordinate our efforts and we continue to call on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform,” the spokesperson mentioned.
This is a creating story.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”