As migrants sleep on the floors of Boston Logan International Airport, the Healey administration has approved to move them to a temporary shelter in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood.
The Melnea A. Cass Recreational Complex on MLK Jr Boulevard in Roxbury is the location of the new temporary shelter.
Families currently housed at Logan Airport can start to move in as early as Wednesday morning, where they will be given wrap-around services to keep them safe and healthy and help them integrate in the community.
This move is the solution the Healey administration said they have now come to as they continue to ask the federal government for more assistance. However, not everyone is on board.
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Boston Mayor Michelle Wu expressed her disappointment in a morning radio interview that the state chose Roxbury, a neighborhood where mostly Black people live and for decades has been marginalized with little to no investment. But even she acknowledged that leaders have toured other spaces, and none were ready to meet the urgent needs of the crisis.
Community members and organizations who rely on the center are now left with no viable options on where to go. Tony DeRocha is the president of Boston United Track and Cross Country Club. He expressed his frustration with the disruption to his organization, which has around 200 youth members, mostly from low-income families.
"Now you're taking something else away from them, that consistency, that normalcy is taken away. So what's the impact on them mentally?" DeRocha said.
Rahsaan D. Hall, Esq., president and CEO of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, said the state needs to be mindful of how its actions affect communities that have historically been marginalized.
"And does everything in their power to make sure there is appropriate funding not only for the migrants that are there, but for the community members whose resources and access to this facility has been displaced," he told NBC10 Boston.
This complex is the only indoor facility that is open year-round. Plus, it has a 24,000-square-foot field house that can house up to 400 people. Meaning, it could become the largest temporary shelter in the state.
The state plans to use this recreation complex in Roxbury until May 31. After that, the center can resume its activities for the community.
