New documents show the rising public cost of housing immigrants in Massachusetts, as the state grapples with strain on its emergency shelter system.
The state has 17 contracts totaling $116 million to house immigrant families through June, including a $10 million no-bid contract for a company that provides meals, CBS News Boston reported, citing documents obtained by the outlet.
In some cases, the state pays hotels $64 per person each day for meals, including $16 for breakfast, $17 for lunch and $31 for dinner.
Last August, Massachusetts Gov. Maura T. Healey declared a state of emergency and said the state had more than 20,000 immigrants in its shelter system.
Overcapacity has required the use of hotels as emergency shelter, but earlier this month the state opened a new temporary 400-bed facility at Boston’s Melnea Cass Recreation Center.
Earlier this month, the state opened a new 400-bed temporary facility at Boston’s Melnea Cass Recreation Center.
In some cases, the state pays hotels $64 per person each day for meals, including $16 for breakfast, $17 for lunch and $31 for dinner.
Officials have yet to explain why the price of the meals is so high.
Massachusetts has 17 contracts totaling $116 million to house migrants through June, including in hotels like this one, as the state faces an influx of migrants.
Overcapacity has required the use of hotels like the old one as emergency shelter, but earlier this month the state opened a new temporary facility with 400 beds.
This followed reports that migrants were being forced to sleep on cots at Logan Airport, underscoring the humanitarian crisis and pressure on the state’s resources.
Like New York, Massachusetts has a long-standing right to housing law that requires the state to provide emergency shelter to families who desperately need it.
The law requires emergency shelters to include basic cooking facilities, and if they don’t, as is the case with some hotels, the state has to step in and contract out food delivery.
CBS affiliate WBZ discovered that a caterer, Spinelli Ravioli Manufacturing Company in East Boston, was awarded a six-month, $10 million no-bid contract to provide and deliver meals.
“As an authorized state supplier, Spinelli’s was contacted at the beginning of the crisis,” the company told WBZ.
“We are not exclusive food providers and do not have a guaranteed contract or financial agreement beyond this initial emergency period,” the statement added.
“We are currently in the bidding process for a long-term contract and look forward to continuing to help the State and the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities achieve their goals.”
A spokesperson for the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com on Monday morning.
Immigrants are seen sleeping rough at Boston’s Logan Airport in the international terminal.
The situation has become so dire that some families are stepping forward and opening their homes to immigrant families struggling to find housing.
Jessica and Colin Stokes said CBS News Boston that when they called the state to offer to host, a family of four showed up at their door less than an hour later.
The family the Stokeses took in had been sleeping at Logan Airport before the offer came.
Jessica said the family has been “lovely.”
‘They are very grateful. It’s been wonderful,’ she said. CBS News Boston.
The Stokes’ story comes as Massachusetts’ newest emergency shelter at the Cass Recreation Center in Roxbury reached its 400-person capacity in just one week.
The establishment of the shelter displaced, among other groups, the Boston United Track and Cross Country Club, which serves children from some of Boston’s poorest neighborhoods.
City officials are keeping an eye on the next building they can seize and transform into a shelter for immigrants.
Some are considering an office in Boston’s seaport, but others say the facilities are inadequate.
Last August, Massachusetts Gov. Maura T. Healey declared a state of emergency and said the state had more than 20,000 immigrants in its shelter system.
Boston City Councilman Ed Flynn said, “To me, having a place without running water or showers would be a failure.”
Jessica said she sympathizes with officials like Flynn, but is discouraged that there aren’t better city systems to deal with the large influx of unexpected visitors.
‘The simple dysfunction is really disheartening and I know very well-intentioned people are working as hard as they can, it is a state of emergency. But it’s worrying to see the volume,” he said.
The couple said they hope to advocate for other families to offer their homes to help immigrants, as they have done.