BOSTON (WWLP) – The Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance in Massachusetts will receive more than $4.3 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover the costs of building up a quarantine shelter for populations of the homeless who contracted the COVID-19 epidemic. 

The $4,345,945 Public Assistance award will cover the cost of hiring a contractor to turn the abandoned medical facility at Boston’s former Newton Pavilion into a non-congregate quarantine facility for homeless people who have tested positive for the coronavirus between March and June 2020. 

This includes $1,787,791 for general contractor services, $1,493,693 for HVAC, plumbing, and electrical work, $485,041 for hospital beds and accessories, $350,263 for construction administration, $178,650 for elevator maintenance services, and $50,505 for fire protection.

“FEMA is pleased to be able to assist the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with these costs,” said FEMA Region 1 Regional Administrator Lori Ehrlich. “Providing resources for our partners on the front lines of the pandemic fight is critical to their success, and our success as a nation.”

To date, FEMA has awarded Massachusetts more than $1.5 billion in Public Assistance grants to cover the commonwealth’s pandemic-related costs.