About 55 people spent the night of April 26 in the lobby of Boston Medical Center, a 514-bed academic medical center, and more than 400 families have used the hospital for shelter since the beginning of 2023, hospital spokesperson David Kibbe told CNN. Last year, the hospital sheltered more than 600 families, he added.
“Families have stayed overnight in our lobby or overflow areas because they have nowhere to go, and we provide transportation to housing agencies the next morning so they can apply for housing when the agencies reopen,” Mr. Kibbe said in a statement to CNN. “People have stayed overnight in our lobby but are not living at the hospital. The hospital is not a housing agency, and we are not a shelter.”
Although it is not unusual for hospitals to act as a temporary shelter for families, the arrivals are stretching hospital resources.
“The number of families arriving on a nightly basis has risen dramatically in recent weeks, stretching the resources of our emergency department, social work and support teams,” Mr. Kibbe said.
A spokesperson for the Boston mayor’s office said they are working with partners to support migrant families and are calling on the federal government “to provide the necessary support to deal with this crisis.”
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