MARLBOROUGH – Mayor Arthur Vigeant is requesting a transfer of $100,000 from the city’s stabilization account to help the influx of homeless families who have arrived or are about to arrive.
In a letter to the City Council dated July 20, Vigeant said there are currently 27 homeless families – 90 individuals with 15 school-aged children – housed at the Extended Stay hotel, and 33 immigrant families – 113 individuals with 22 school-aged children – at the Holiday Inn.
Vigeant has been notified by Ed Augustus, secretary for the state’s Office of Housing and Livable Communities, that 30 more families will be heading to the Holiday Inn.
Should the transfer be approved, the funds would be used to fund city services, including translators. Most of the families housed at the Holiday Inn are Haitian and speak Creole.
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Vigeant is also looking into a hospitality program where adult immigrants and unemployed homeless populations could be trained to enter the workforce.
“Marlborough has over 100 restaurants and 11 hotels who are all in need of additional staff, and this type of program will benefit both employers, employees and getting the immigrant population employed,” he said.
Vigeant said he expected the state to reimburse the city for expenses incurred.
While coming up with short-term solutions to the homeless/immigrant situation, Vigeant said something needs to be done over the long term.
“The federal government needs to do their job and come up with a bipartisan immigration policy to stop what is currently happening,” said Vigeant.
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Changes could include reversing the state’s “right to shelter” policy put into place in the 1980s, he said.
“At this time, we need to care for our current residents first before worsening our housing supply,” he said.
Vigeant presented two resolutions before the City Council on July 24 – to have the federal government reform its immigration policies and to have the state reverse its “right to shelter” policy and come up with long-term solutions for housing homeless and immigrant families.
The transfer request has been sent to the council’s Finance Committee.
