Eight Families in a Church Rectory: How a Boston AME Congregation Became a Shelter for Haitian Migrants

• Eight Haitian families, 28 people in all, are living in Bethel AME Church’s rectory in Boston
• Massachusetts hit its limit of 7,500 families in emergency shelter
• More than 350 families were on the state waiting list
• Residents cook together and take English and computer classes while they wait for work permits

When Massachusetts’ emergency shelter system filled up, a church building in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighbourhood took in some of those left over. The rectory at Bethel AME Church is now home to eight Haitian migrant families, the Associated Press reported in a story carried by the Jamaica Observer.

The families total 28 people, including 13 children ranging from infants to a 15-year-old, according to Geralde Gabeau, executive director of the Immigrant Family Services Institute, which is helping provide services. They live and cook together and take English and computer classes. “They live as a community,” Gabeau said, pointing to big pots of vegetables, meat and Haitian rice on the stove.

Among them are Ernseau Admettre, 43, his wife Jimene, 36, and their children, aged six and two months. They travelled through the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Mexico before arriving at Boston’s airport as winter set in. “We’re going through a very tragic moment in our country. We have no safety,” Admettre said. “Leaving Haiti was the best solution to survive.” He has received work authorisation and hopes to earn enough to move his family into an apartment. The institute hopes to bring in employers in January to help residents find jobs and more permanent homes.

The need is large. The state reached its self-imposed limit of 7,500 families in its emergency shelter system, and more than 350 families were on the waiting list. It planned to open a former courthouse in Cambridge as an overnight overflow site for up to 70 families. Scott Rice, director general of Massachusetts Emergency Assistance, said: “We encourage community organisations to reach out to us with any daytime program and resources they are able to provide to families in need.”

A rectory is usually just the minister’s house, but in a housing emergency it becomes a valuable asset. Churches in Jamaica and across the diaspora own manses, halls and spare rooms that sit partly empty, and Boston shows how they can be used when a city runs out of beds. There are practical questions to settle first: insurance, fire safety, cooking facilities and who pays the utilities. For Jamaican congregations in North America, and for churches at home planning for hurricane shelter, the example is worth studying. The most useful thing a church owns in a crisis may be a building it already has.

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