February 27, 2025
Alternative housing found ahead of Days Inn shelter closure on Friday
BY Greenfield Recorder
GREENFIELD — As the state-funded Days Inn shelter, which has predominantly housed Haitian immigrants and refugees, prepares to close its doors on Friday, the five families still living there are ready to move to new lodgings, according to ServiceNet, the human service agency that runs the shelter.
In an interview Monday, ServiceNet Vice President of Community Relations Amy Timmins said one of the five remaining families will be transferred to another ServiceNet shelter in Greenfield, another family will move out of state to live with relatives and three others will be housed in Hampden County apartments.
“Most of the families who have been at the Days Inn over the last year have remained in Franklin County — mostly in Greenfield, with some in Sunderland and Orange,” Timmins said. “The Greenfield community and Franklin County folks have been welcoming and supportive, and there are so many community partners who have been involved in helping people get settled and find work, including the school system.”
Gov. Maura Healey has begun phasing out hotel and motel shelters in accordance with recommendations made in a report by the Special Commission on Emergency Housing Assistance Programs in November. The Days Inn has been used for emergency shelter since May 2023.
In a statement released in November, Healey said the changes are intended to cut costs in the state’s Emergency Assistance (EA) family shelter system and find longer-term housing solutions for those in temporary living situations.
“The state expanded into hotel and motel rooms as a temporary solution to support the surge capacity, not as a long-term housing solution for families,” the report reads. “The commission recommends shifting away from current hotel and motel sites in the short term and limiting reliance on these sites for any future surge in demand.”
When the closure of the Days Inn shelter was announced in January, Timmins said the site had served 66 families since it opened. She added that all of the original 45 predominantly Haitian families that stayed there in the summer of 2023 were placed in more permanent housing.
The shelter’s closure, however, is timed with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ announcement last Thursday that it will revoke an extension of Temporary Protected Status for Haitian immigrants until February 2026 that was passed during former President Joe Biden’s administration. Temporary Protected Status for Haitian migrants will now end Aug. 3.
Sara Horatius, a racial justice fellow for the Springfield-based Central West Justice Center, an affiliate of Community Legal Aid, works primarily with Haitian migrants. Being the daughter of Haitian immigrants, Horatius said she helps migrants — the majority of whom are Haitian — apply for immigration status and educates them on the process of obtaining legal immigration status in the U.S.
Horatius noted that current federal attempts to block Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelan immigrants are being fought with lawsuits and she anticipates the same will happen in the case of the Haitian immigrants.
“I’m assuming the same thing will happen for Haitian migrants, that a lawsuit will also be filed on their behalf,” Horatius said. “If, for some reason, Temporary Protected Status is really rescinded for Haiti, and come August of 2025 they no longer are able to retain that status, then the Haitians will just have to see what other immigration benefits that they qualify for. They would have to look into other visas or maybe some will have access to apply for a permanent residency.”
Center for New Americans Executive Director Laurie Millman, whose organization works to assist immigrants, including the Haitians housed at the Days Inn, to learn English and attain employment, echoed Horatius’ remarks in an interview Monday, listing asylum status as a potential alternative to Temporary Protected Status in the event of it being rescinded.
Horatius explained asylum status is particularly difficult for immigrants to achieve, noting that free or affordable community legal services are often at full capacity and cannot handle asylum cases promptly. She added that while private attorneys might be able to facilitate the process of gaining asylum status, they come at a hefty price.
“Asylum is not easy to get, and also, a lot of lawyers in legal aids or nonprofits are overwhelmed or at capacity,” Horatius said. “I’m at capacity because I have a lot of cases so, constantly, prospective clients are calling me, but I can’t take on their case because I have commitments to other clients.”
Pamela Adams, director of bakery operations and executive pastry chef for UMass Dining who received the 2024 Commonwealth Heroine award for her role feeding and finding employment for dozens of refugees at the Days Inn, said in an interview Monday that she has been pleased to see the city’s Haitian population acclimate and become part of the community through employment and housing. Adams added that should Temporary Protected Status be rescinded, she will help migrants pursue other immigration statuses.
“Our hope is that this will get blocked,” Adams said. “If it is rescinded, we would have to help families apply for alternative options, such as asylum.”
Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.