Faced with a growing number of homeless immigrant families, Massachusetts has resorted to a desperate measure: recruiting residents to serve as volunteer hosts while long-term housing solutions are arranged.
According to a WBUR story in July, with state-run facilities filled to capacity, Massachusetts began a Host Family Initiative to provide temporary housing and food.
“While the state is trying to figure out exactly what to do,” Geraldi Gabo, executive director of the Institute for Immigrant Family Services, told the website, [how] To open more shelters, I believe that we – as citizens, as members of our community – also need to play a role.
In August, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey and Governor Kim Driscoll asked Massachusetts families to consider sheltering migrants in their homes due to space constraints.
“If you have an extra room or suite in your home, please consider hosting a family. Safe housing and shelter are our most pressing needs. Be a sponsoring family… Apply if you would like to have an additional family,” Driscoll said in a press conference. Be part of your family.”
Some families have stepped up.
According to Brookline News, a news outlet serving the Boston suburb of Brookline, Brookline Town Meeting members Jessica and Colleen Stokes read an email from another elected official in November about the migrant crisis sweeping through Massachusetts shelters and said they felt moved to help.
After discussing the idea with their college-age daughter and teenage son, the Stokes told state refugee officials they could potentially host a family in the short term, the Brooklyn News reported.
They didn't expect the call to come so soon. But on January 6, the Stokes family received an urgent call — a Haitian family of four needed shelter immediately after spending four nights on the hard floor of Logan Airport, where many migrant families have taken refuge.
Within half an hour of the Stokes saying “yes,” the Anthony family, her husband Edner, and two children, Naika and Eduardo, arrived on their doorstep.
The indigenous Haitians fled poverty in their homeland, first to Chile, then to the United States after a journey that crossed South and Central America before the family arrived in Eagle Pass, Texas, according to the Brooklyn News.
The Stokes have outfitted their room in a spacious, carpeted guest room with a queen-size futon and two twin beds to make the beds more comfortable.
“I was happy with this news [that they had been taken in by the Stokes] “Because I was in bad shape sleeping in the airport with the kids,” Anthony told the Brooklyn News. “It was very good news for us.”
In the weeks that followed, securing basic services became an uphill battle. The Stokes, who had no way to communicate with the immigrant family other than using their limited knowledge of French and Spanish, spent countless hours coordinating donations, interpreters, school enrollments, and work permit applications.
Although authorities have told the Stokes they are not obligated to retain the family, there is no indication when the migrant family will actually receive housing.
So, in the meantime, they're with the Stokes family, who say they're happy to keep them as long as they get housing.
The family say it is a “valuable and positive thing”, although Colin admits it can be frustrating at times.
Although I have the utmost respect for the Stokes family, who seem like wonderful, kind people who genuinely want to help in any way they can, the truth is that the state of Massachusetts has failed the Stokes family – along with the rest of its citizens.
Although the Stokes family is sympathetic, they should not feel compelled by the crisis surrounding them to take a family into their home.
Because they are so kind, they are likely to stick with it despite their annoyances and “frustrations.”
The fact that Massachusetts uses temporary fixes that rely on private citizens reveals the untenable situation the state faces.
The Stokes family's generosity is admirable, but this should not be a burden for them to bear.
With the Biden administration showing no intention of turning off the tap on the border, this crisis will continue to worsen.
Many families may find themselves feeling guilty opening their homes to guests who shouldn't be here in the first place.
This article originally appeared in The Western Journal.
