BOSTON (WHDH) - Families spent the night at the safety-net shelter at the Melnea Cass Recreation Center for the first time Wednesday night, including migrant families who had previously been spending the night at Logan Airport, drawing both support and criticism from members of the Roxbury community.
Residents gathered outside the center to protest the move, saying kids who live in the area depend on the center and won’t have the programming they need. Protestors carried signs bearing phrases including “Why Roxbury? Try Wellesley!”, “Our City Our Spaces”, “Boston Is Full”, and “Our Kids Come Last – Why?” and chanting “Shame on Wu” in reference to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, who toured the facility Thursday with Governor Maura Healey and other officials.
“We know that something has to be done,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said Wednesday. “Boston is already stepping up in many ways, and we are continuing to feel the impacts.”
“None of us should stand by while women, children, and families sleep outside or in an airport who look like us,” said State Sen. Liz Miranda.
The safety-net shelter opened to families on Wednesday, joining other sites already in operation around the state. It is set to house up to 100 families or 400 individuals who are awaiting long term shelter.
Gov. Maura Healey said the decision to move migrants into the recreation center was “just born out of necessity.”
“We just have to do what we have to do in this time,” she said.
Healey said her administration has been working with the city and other organizations to relocate programming that normally would be hosted at the center.
“They’re talking about how we need to get the kids off the street, we need to give them programs because they’re the future of us,” said Shawn Nelson, who was protesting outside the center. “Well, this is how you’re treating the future, by kicking them out of their own place.”
Wu said Boston schools have welcomed 1,600 students this school year, many of them migrants.
“We are going to make sure the young people get enrolled right away, have supports, including any of the social emotional supports that are needed,” she said.
The Melnea Cass Center in Roxbury is scheduled to cease operations as a shelter by May 31 in time to reopen its pool. The state has also committed to hiring more staff and renovating the facility for the future.
State records show about 7,500 families in state shelter system.
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