Massachusetts officials are touting the falling number of migrants in the state’s emergency housing program but downplaying the fact that the migrants are not necessarily leaving the Bay State.
Officials are noting that the number of migrants in the state’s shelter system is down 30 percent since last year, falling from a high of some 7,600 families in July of last year to about 5,330 this year, the Boston Herald reported.
The paper insisted that the drop is due to changes in state requirements for shelter eligibility, which now favors citizens in need over migrants.
“The Legislature and the governor have clearly leaned into adding tools and flexibility for how we help house folks, and all of those changes and cumulative impact, we are seeing work,” said Danielle Ferrier, the CEO of shelter provider Heading Home. “You’re starting to see that impact of how all those moves are helping us get folks out and bring the numbers down, which we knew we needed to do.”
However, officials are not putting as much emphasis on exactly where the migrants who used to be in the emergency shelters have gone.
According to GBH radio, it appears that most are now shifting into taxpayer-supported rent schemes.
Sources told GBH radio that more families are moving from the emergency shelter system into the state’s taxpayer-funded HomeBASE system, where “Eligible households can get help finding an apartment as well as funds to cover upfront fees like a broker fee and rent for up to two years.”
Officials also noted that nearly 5,000 shelter residents have been able to secure work authorization.
Critics of those pushing for the importation of more migrants say their goal is to replace fleeing middle-class Americans who are leaving blue states in droves. As far back as 2021, the left-wing Brookings Institute claimed that migration was the ideal way to “revive” the middle class.
Since then, liberals have muted that idea to stiffle claims that liberals are intending to “replace” the middle class.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, X at WTHuston, or Truth Social at @WarnerToddHuston.
Read the full article here
