In response to a motion made by City Councilor-at-Large Anne Manning-Martin at the Jan. 9 City Council meeting, Police Chief Thomas Griffin compiled data on calls, arrests, and specific charges at the three hotels serving as shelters for homeless families, many of whom are migrants.
Peabody police were made aware of the shelters in the Spring of 2023, according to the report made by Griffin. His report includes data from Jan. 1, 2023, to Jan. 30, 2025, shows 31 arrests and criminal complaints across place the three sites.
One of the shelters, SpringHill Suites on Newbury Street, ended its shelter operation on Dec. 31, while the other two—the Holiday Inn, also on Newbury Street, and Extended Stay on Jubilee Drive—continue to operate as shelters.
Manning-Martin requested information on the shelters following reports of incidents at similar shelters in Greater Boston that were covered by The Boston Globe and The Boston Herald.
“I want to be able to get more information from our police chief in order for us to provide whatever additional support we can to our police department to keep families safe there,” she said.
The state began using hotels and motels as a part of its Emergency Assistance shelter program, which became overwhelmed due to an influx of migrants. According to program data, 2,314 families are currently housed in these shelters.
Gov. Maura Healey announced in November that the rising costs of the program made it necessary to change how the state’s shelter system operates, including phasing out hotels as shelters over the coming year.
“We just can’t keep doing what we’re doing — these expensive hotels,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said to WBUR in Nov. “And frankly, it’s not good to be in a hotel, a 10’x 12′ room for a year plus.”
According to Griffin’s report, Citizens Inn manages the Extended Stay location, where “their clients occupy 15 rooms, and they use another room for an office.” Similarly, the SpringHill Suites site, managed by Centerboard from Lynn, used only a small percentage of rooms for shelter, making it difficult to determine which calls were related to migrant families and which were from other guests.
However, the Holiday Inn location, also managed by Centerboard, was fully converted into a full-time shelter. As a result, Griffin reported an increase in activity requiring emergency response.
Some of the more serious incidents include an arrest for two counts of aggravated assault and battery on a pregnant individual and aggravated rape, a juvenile summons for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and an arrest for strangulation.
“Obviously, there’s more people at these facilities right now than normal, so there is an increase in our activity there, and I think that’s reflected in some of the numbers,” said Griffin. “Hopefully, they can get these folks into more permanent housing; I think it’s a difficult situation for families to live long-term in a hotel room.”
Manning-Martin commended Griffin and the Peabody Police Department for managing the increase in calls despite not receiving advanced notice that the hotels would be converted into shelters.
“After allowing this to spiral out of control in both cost and crime for two years, consuming community resources while endangering many, the Legislature is now looking to provide leadership from the back when public safety screamed for them to be out front—they are embarrassingly late to the game,” she said.
The data will be presented to city council members at Thursday night’s City Council meeting, where they will be able to discuss responses to the findings.
