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Cass center in Roxbury set to open as overflow shelter this week
The popular Melnea A. Cass Recreational Complex in Roxbury will serve as a shelter for waitlisted families until the end of May.
As the ongoing migrant crisis continues to overwhelm the emergency shelter system of Massachusetts, state officials are turning to a recreation center in Roxbury.
On Wednesday, the Melnea A. Cass Recreational Complex “will begin serving as a temporary safety-net site for families in need of shelter, especially those who have been sleeping at Logan Airport,” Emergency Assistance Director General Scott Rice said in a statement.
Migrant families continue to flow into Massachusetts, and dozens have been staying on the floor at Logan. The emergency shelter system hit capacity last November, and Gov. Maura Healey’s administration has been working to set up overflow sites for those being waitlisted. Hundreds of people remain on the waitlist, and the Cass complex will host some of them.
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The complex will be used as a shelter site until May 31, according to Healey’s office. It will be able to accommodate about 100 families, or 400 individuals.
News that this move was likely broke late last week, prompting a listening session for locals. Many of those who attended expressed “pain,” Mayor Michelle Wu said during a radio interview Monday.
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“This is a very difficult circumstance that both the governor and the mayor … have to deal with,” City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson told NBC10 Boston. Fernandes Anderson represents District 7 and helped organize the listening session. “It feels unfair, and yet the governor wouldn’t have made this decision if she wasn’t stuck with this really hard decision.”
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City and state officials had worked together to assess a number of locations around Boston to see if they could accommodate those waiting for emergency shelter, Wu said. She acknowledged that there are “no good options,” and that residents will be impacted by the temporary disruption of services at the Cass complex. When asked if she had a choice in the matter, Wu said that the facility is state-run.
“We appreciate the collaboration of the City, Roxbury elected officials, and the community who worked with us to ensure we could provide families with a safe and warm place to stay while minimizing the impact to the Roxbury community,” Rice said.
The complex is the state’s only indoor facility open year-round. It has a 24,000-square-foot field house and an outdoor pool that opens in the summer. Healey’s office said that shelter operations will end at the shelter by the time the pool opens.
Families will be referred to the site by various “welcome centers” throughout the state on a daily basis, officials said. Food will be provided at the Cass complex, along with legal, medical, transportation, and security services.
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Similar “safety-net” sites operated by the state are currently open in Cambridge, Quincy and Revere. United Way operates more in Greater Boston and Central Massachusetts.
Healey’s office said that the state is committed to offering the programs normally housed at the Cass complex at other locations, and that there will be significant improvements to the complex.
“We are working to relocate recreation programs, ensuring the recreation center and the pool can reopen in June, continuing to make improvements to the center for the long-term benefit of the community, and prioritizing diverse and local vendors.” Rice said in a statement.
Some locals expressed surprise about the plan.
“Out of respect for us who have lived here, maybe we could get a little heads up,” longtime Roxbury resident Heather Gordon-Gayle told The Boston Globe Tuesday. “We just take what we get, or what’s thrown at us.”
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