The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency will use the Bob Eisengrein Community Center in Devens as a temporary intake center for up to 60 unhoused families beginning in early December.
The site will be used to house up to 125 individuals for the first days of entering the shelter system while their needs are determined and addressed before being transferred to more permanent housing, according to a Tuesday press release from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development.
“By creating a centralized space to conduct intake activities before families are placed in their emergency assistance site, we will be able to better assess the needs of these individuals and better prepare communities for the arrival of families to shelter sites in their city or town,” Mike Kennealy, Massachusetts housing and economic development secretary, said in the press release.
People entering the facility will receive housing case management, human services and case management, and if eligible, will be enrolled in state benefits. The shelter will provide food and laundry services.
Gov. Charlie Baker signed a $139-million fiscal 2023 supplemental budget on Friday to address an increased demand on the emergency assistance shelter system.
Devens is a 4,400-acre mixed-use community redeveloped by state agency MassDevelopment after the former U.S. Army facility Fort Devens closed in 1996.
