Quincy disperses migrant tent encampment on church grounds

As advocates continue to protest new shelter stay limits imposed by the Healey administration, newly–arrived migrant families are struggling to find places to sleep in Massachusetts.

After a Quincy church recently let some families pitch tents on its property, local officials dispersed the small encampment. 

After the tents were set up on church grounds, the city’s Health Department and its Inspectional Services Department received “neighborhood complaints” about the situation, according to Chris Walker, chief of staff for Mayor Thomas Koch. 

The complaints involved reports of “unsanitary and potentially unsafe activity on the grounds of a church off Granite Street,” Walker said in a statement to Boston.com Tuesday. 

The church is not far from the Wollaston Red Line station. In recent weeks, groups of predominantly Haitians migrants have been camping there, WBUR reported. 

In response to a major spike in the number of migrants coming to Massachusetts, the state set up “family welcome centers” to help connect homeless families with essential services. One currently exists at Quincy’s Eastern Nazarene College. However, these welcome centers are not shelters — they are not open at night and families cannot sleep in them. So Wollaston station, just a 15-minute walk from the Eastern Nazarene campus, became a gathering place for those relying on the welcome center without anywhere to stay overnight. 

Last Wednesday, volunteers collaborated with the church and the migrants to secure camping spaces on a manicured, private courtyard garden, per WBUR. 

But two days later, the families were stuck looking for another place to sleep. 

“Members of the Inspectional Services Department, Fire Department and Legal department explained to Church officials the life-safety, health and building code issues relative to a tent set-up that was visible on the church grounds,” Walker said in his statement. “The church agreed to remove the tents. No citations were issued.”

The Quincy church’s pastor had reportedly worked with the volunteers to help accommodate the migrant families. In response to requests for comment Tuesday, the pastor directed all questions to the Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network (BIJAN). That group, which provides migrants with a range of services, did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. 

In recent years, increased immigration and high housing costs have combined to plunge Massachusetts into a prolonged shelter crisis. The state’s emergency shelter system has been at capacity since last fall, prompting the creation of multiple overflow shelter sites throughout the state. But space is still limited, as are the funds needed to keep the system afloat. 

Gov. Maura Healey recently announced new prioritization rules for the shelters that focus on families from Massachusetts, and said that families not being prioritized can only stay at the overflow sites for five days unless they receive an extension. Advocates have protested against the new policies; another vigil is scheduled for Wednesday in front of the State House. 

The families that briefly stayed at the Quincy church are now staying in hotel rooms paid for by residents looking to help, advocate Judy Wolberg told WBUR.

“We had to act very quickly to get all those tents down,” Wolberg told the station. “It was a big shock.”