The state of Massachusetts resettled thousands of migrant families into apartments at the expense of $30,000 per family to the taxpayers, but now many of the migrants cannot afford to pay their rent.
Starting in 2023, the state began pushing migrants into apartment complexes as an adjunct to the state’s emergency assistance shelter program and at least 5,000 families have been the recipients of the program, according to the Boston Globe. But little thought seems to have been given to the sustainability of the housing.
The paper noted that many of the migrants have used up their $30,000 allotment before even being able to begin paying rent regularly on their own. The money went for moving, furniture, security deposits, and other living start-up costs. And for many migrants, that left them without enough time to gain legal employment that could allow them to afford rent payments.
The cash shortage sent many of the migrants to move right back out of their new apartments before they were able to stabilize their income. According to the program, the migrants are not required to pay the entirety of the rent on their own. The state’s HomeBASE program only requires them to fork over 30 percent of their income for rent with the rest being pulled from the program’s initial $30,000 stipend.
The problem is, many of these families have been unable to gain jobs that can bring in enough cash to make paying rent sustainable. That means their $30,000 allotment runs out quickly as the fund pays most if not all of the monthly rent fees. And soon enough, that $30,000 allotment is eaten up and the families have to move right back out of their apartments in a matter of only a few months.
State officials have hailed the HomeBASE program because they can use it to show that migrants have been moving out of the controversial free shelter system. Officials try to use that to show they are successfully putting migrants into jobs and homes. But the reality seems to be that the “homes” are short term, leaving many migrants out in the street when their $30,000 funding dries up.
Hellbound and Down 