The truck area at The Cath Rec Center in Roxbury was occupied Wednesday with cots for migrants arriving from Logan Airport. (Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)
According to the latest count, the median home price in Boston is $800,000. In Massachusetts, it’s $616,450. According to BankRate.com. That doesn’t take into account the extremely high mortgage rate of 7.56%.
According to , it costs $3,311 to rent a one-bedroom apartment in the city. apartments.com. It’s about the same nearby.
So the question arises: Does providing $30,000 in housing assistance to eligible immigrants recklessly ignore people who are already struggling to pay their rent or mortgage?
We think that sends the wrong message. That’s just bad policy.
Gov. Maura Healey can blame Congress for the immigration crisis until she’s blue in the face, but the $30,000 housing allowance will be another headache for Massachusetts. Right-of-refuge laws are already pushing illegal immigrants toward the Northeast. Housing benefits only accelerate migration.
As we reported yesterday, HomeBASE can use its $30,000 cushion to help homeless families with their first and last month’s rent, security deposits, and brokerage fees for new apartments. Monthly payments can subsidize your rent for up to two years, with the possibility of subsidizing your rent for as many as three years.
Depending on your family’s needs, you may need to pay for things like furniture, moving costs, and utilities. The program also helps pay past due rent and utility bills.
Rather than handing over cash to families, the program makes payments directly to landlords, moving companies, utility companies and other businesses.
In Massachusetts, the shelter system is at capacity. The Biden administration has failed miserably to stem the flow of illegal immigration, and taxpayers will be footing the bill for years to come.
Healey’s first job will be to protect Massachusetts taxpayers. Her ambitions seem to be getting in the way. That’s why having a Democrat, or at least a progressive, sitting in a corner office can only lead to bad outcomes for us.
Mr. Healey needs to send a message to people crossing the border today that Massachusetts is closed for business. We need to take care of our own people first.
