Peabody officials review migrant housing at three hotels as public-safety and school impacts rise

Peabody municipal safety officials reviewed state-run migrant housing at three local hotels during a committee meeting, with health and public-safety leaders reporting higher emergency calls, repeated health and code complaints and a continuing absence of detailed state planning for an exit timeline.

"As of today, they have about 75 families and residents comprised of 138 children and 115 adults for a total of 253 individuals," Sharon Cameron, Peabody’s director of health and human services, said of the Holiday Inn, which the state designated a shelter. Cameron said the Holiday Inn has been given a December 31 closing date and that families from other closed sites continue to be placed there.

The meeting focused on three hotels used for sheltering: Holiday Inn (1 Newbury Street), Extended Stay America (listed in materials as 200 Jewel Julie Drive) and SpringHill Suites (listed in materials as 403 Newbury Street). Cameron said SpringHill Suites closed several months earlier and Extended Stay closed the previous week; some families from those sites moved to the Holiday Inn.

Why it matters: officials said the hotels were not designed for long-term residency and city departments have logged recurring complaints — including pest activity, reports of bed bugs, raw-sewage backups and unregistered vehicles — and have required professional remediation. The issues have produced more emergency responses from fire and police and placed additional demands on the public schools.

Fire Chief Jay Dowling told the committee the fire department recorded 278 responses to the three hotels over a 14-month period; about 78 of those were medical emergencies. He said response levels at the Holiday Inn were more than five times higher than before the sheltering, and calls to the other two hotels were about 2.5 times higher.

"We still do quarterly inspections at these premises," Dowling said, adding that the sites are treated as shelters rather than hotels for some inspection purposes. He said the hotel kitchens have been shut down and residents are allowed microwaves but not hot plates. Dowling also described an incident in which a child sustained second-degree burns from spilled hot takeout, not from in-room cooking.

Police Chief Thomas Griffin told the council the police department’s data show a substantial uptick: he compared recent activity to 2019 and 2022 and said police service requests, complaints and arrests tied to the sites were roughly three times higher in 2023–24 than in the comparison years.

Thomas St. Pierre, the city’s building commissioner, said the state assumed jurisdiction for building inspection while the hotels function as part of the state program; when a property reverts to private hotel use it will return to local jurisdiction. St. Pierre described infrastructure problems at the Holiday Inn, including overtaxed sewage pumps and aging systems, and said the likely path will be a full reinspection and issuance of a new occupancy permit after required repairs.

City leaders described mixed compliance by hotel operators: Cameron said Holiday Inn management has been "pretty good" about complying with orders, but that remediation and upgrades will likely be necessary before the property could be permitted to operate as a hotel again. St. Pierre said local inspectors had worked with plumbing staff and vendors to get repairs done and that, because operators were responsive, the city did not impose fines.

School impacts and funding: city staff reported school enrollments tied to the sheltering peaked at about 120–140 students and stood at about 80 students at the time of the meeting, split among elementary, middle and high schools. Mayor (name not specified) and city staff said the school department receives $104 per child, per day from the state for students placed in the school system; the mayor and department leaders said they were still compiling exact cost and staffing figures related to the influx.

Mayor (name not specified) said the city and departments have received limited advance planning or direction from the state. "We haven't really been involved in the planning and certainly day-to-day operations," the mayor said, adding later, "it would not be something that would be on the city to pay for any renovations" to hotel properties if repairs become necessary — and that the city would push back if it were asked to shoulder those costs.

Several councilors and the mayor publicly commended school staff, school resource officers, police, fire, health and parks and recreation staff for in‑house efforts to support children and families, including school events and recreational outings arranged for students from the hotels.

What remains unresolved: city leaders said they have received only limited, piecemeal communications from state agencies (described in the meeting as the Executive Office of Housing and the Executive Office of Livable Communities) about a state exit plan. The committee chair noted the state has stated a goal of removing migrant families from hotels by Dec. 31, 2025, but multiple city officials said no detailed, binding schedule or funding plan had been shared with local departments.

The committee did not take any policy votes on sheltering or funding at the meeting; after public comment and department reports the committee adjourned.

Ending: Councilors said they will continue regular inquiry and asked departments to share any state communications as soon as they receive them so the city can brief the public and incorporate any cost impacts into the upcoming budget process.