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Cass Center in Roxbury to reopen for public use after months as overflow shelter
The Melnea A. Cass Recreational Complex was hosting hundreds of people, including many migrants. All families have since moved out.
About four months after it opened as an overflow shelter for hundreds of migrants and homeless residents, the Melnea A. Cass Recreational Complex in Roxbury is set to reopen to the wider community.
As of Monday, all families staying in the Cass Center have moved out, either to more stable housing facilities outside the state’s shelter system or to another overflow site, Gov. Maura Healey’s office confirmed to Boston.com.
Operations at the center will transfer back to the Department of Conservation and Recreation in time for the pool to reopen on June 22 and for work to begin on a variety of improvements. In late January, officials said that the center would serve as a shelter until the end of May.
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The 24,000-square-foot field house was being used to house about 100 families, or around 400 people, at a time. Since the state’s emergency shelter system hit capacity last fall, state leaders and partners like the United Way have been setting up overflow, or “safety-net,” shelter sites for those being waitlisted.
There are currently about 778 families on the waitlist, according to Healey’s office. The emergency shelter system itself had 7,440 families enrolled in it as of last Thursday, according to state data.
In March, Healey’s office announced that families staying in overflow sites would need to get recertified monthly in order to continue their stays.
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The families staying in the shelters include many migrant children. Healey’s office says it is working with them and various school districts to ensure their education is not disrupted. Federal law dictates that families will have a choice to either stay in their current district or enroll in a new one.
State officials are under increased scrutiny following an investigation by The Boston Globe that found that hundreds of families, including those with young children, were placed in hotels with registered sex offenders.
The Cass Center is used by residents for sports, community events, and a variety of other programs. Some locals expressed surprise when Healey announced the decision to use it as an overflow shelter earlier this year. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu acknowledged the “pain” that residents felt at the sudden disruption. City and state officials worked together to assess potential overflow sites, but the Cass Center was the only one to meet the specifications outlined by the state, Wu said at the time.
Now that the Cass Center is no longer being used as a shelter, work can progress on a series of improvements to the facilities there. The specifics were outlined in a public meeting in late April.
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Details are still being ironed out in discussions between local leaders and state officials, but the expected improvements include upgrading the facility’s athletic flooring, adding new equipment, planting new trees, and repairing the roof with new solar panels, according to Healey’s office.
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