State To Use Westborough Site As Emergency Homeless Shelter

WESTBOROUGH, MA — The state will use a portion of its Lyman Street complex in Westborough to open a 20-bed permanent emergency shelter for families experiencing homelessness.

The emergency shelter, which could open by May, comes as Massachusetts is experiencing a shelter bed crisis due to multiple factors including a rising homelessness population, a dearth of affordable housing and an increase of migrants moving to the state.

Massachusetts has bout 3,600 shelter beds statewide, and all of them were full as of Feb. 16.

According to the town, the state will use a building at the former Westborough State Hospital for the shelter. The state is already using two extended stay hotels in town as temporary shelters.

The shelter will primarily house Westborough-area families, which means households with at least one person under 21, but also includes people who are pregnant. Under state law, the Department of Housing and Community Development is required to provide shelter to families and pregnant people that need it.

The Framingham-based South Middlesex Opportunity Council will help run the shelter, providing services like links to stable housing and case management.