A Massachusetts shelter program reported over 300 “serious” incidents this year, the Boston Herald reported.
Per the Herald, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities disclosed a total of 316 Serious Incident reports at “hotels, congregate sites, scattered sites, and co-shelters” in the Emergency Assistance family shelter program.
Emergency Assistance is not a migrant shelter program. However, migrant families can be eligible for the program.
Jessica Vaughan, Director of Policy Studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, told the Herald that the reports are “very disturbing.” She added, “This is a huge number of incidents.”
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Vaughan went on to say, “This is a huge failure, and it’s happening with massive amounts of taxpayer money.”
“The state is clearly failing to provide a safe environment for these migrants,” she continued.
The Herald’s report comes after their previous reporting that the migrant family shelter program banned over 20 people for “inappropriate actions.” The banned subjects were then referred to individual adult homeless shelters, the Herald reported further.
According to the Emergency Assistance program, a serious incident constitutes “serious misconduct, threatening behaviors, or actual harm involving or affecting an EA program, or any EA family members. Serious incidents can involve perpetrators that are EA family members, program staff, external community members or anyone else.”
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A spokesperson for the agency told Fox News Digital that the “safety and wellbeing of families in the Emergency Assistance program is a priority for the Administration.”
“If an incident occurs in an EA shelter, HLC staff and service providers work with families to ensure their safety, security, and well-being, including working with relevant authorities to address concerns,” the spokesperson said.
“To be clear: serious incidents do not necessarily reflect misconduct or violations of shelter rules by shelter residents and can include any incident that occurs at a shelter site. Examples can include fire alarms or natural disasters, COVID-19 infections, unauthorized entry into shelter by non-EA residents, and other incidents which result in a major disruption of the EA program.”
The Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The report comes amid a growing influx of migrants that are reportedly burdening the state’s homeless shelter system.
Furthermore, Gov. Maura Healey announced on Tuesday new restrictions that Massachusetts families must be prioritized for services.
The governor announced last month that she had sent members of her administration to the Texas border, citing “record” numbers of migrants coming to Boston.
Officials will make connections with federal agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and migrant families “to educate them about the lack of shelter availability in Massachusetts.”
Many Democrat-run states and cities have struggled to cope with the numbers of migrants they are seeing. Multiple mayors have urged the Biden administration to give them more federal funding, as well as expedited work permits to help migrants get jobs more quickly and be less reliant on social services.
