Massachusetts Officials Ask Residents to Lend a ‘Helping Hand’ and Offer Migrants ‘an Extra Room’

Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll asked state residents Wednesday to open their doors and assist housing migrants after the Democratic governor, Maura Healey, declared a state of emergency Tuesday as the state is faced with a vast shortage of shelters.

“Most importantly, if you have an extra room or suite in your home, please consider hosting a family. Housing and shelter is our most pressing need and become a sponsor family,” Driscoll said.

Driscoll’s comments echoed Healey’s statement Tuesday in calling on residents to “offer a helping hand.”

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Their calls for assistance from residents come after Healey announced that a state of emergency exists “due to rapid and unabated increases in the number of families with children and pregnant people — many of them newly arriving migrants and refugees — living within the state but without the means to secure safe shelter in our communities.”

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