As migrants arrive in Mass., volunteers step up to offer housing​

In 2018, Winchester couple Bruce and Linda Alexander floated the idea of hosting a refugee, asylum seeker, or migrant in their home. They were both retired, albeit still actively involved as a volunteer (in Bruce’s case) and a part-time ESOL educator (in Linda’s case) for immigrant advocacy groups. Importantly, they had space in their three-bedroom, one-and-a-half bath home.

But it wasn’t until they received an urgent call from the director of a resettlement agency asking them if they were interested in temporarily hosting a middle-aged woman asylum seeker from Uganda that they became a host home.

As migrants arrive in Mass., volunteers step up to offer housing
Mireille Pierre, center, comforts her son Marventz, 3, while taking direction from Dieufort Fleurissaint, aka 'Pastor Keke,’ at the state's new emergency overflow shelter for migrants at the Melnea A. Cass Recreational Complex in Boston, MA on February 22, 2024. (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff)
As migrants arrive in Mass., volunteers step up to offer housing
Mireille Pierre, center, comforts her son Marventz, 3, while taking direction from Dieufort Fleurissaint, aka 'Pastor Keke,’ at the state's new emergency overflow shelter for migrants at the Melnea A. Cass Recreational Complex in Boston, MA on February 22, 2024. (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff)
The host home model offers migrants a safe place to stay as they settle into more permanent housing. Find out how you can host a migrant in your home.