New proposals to create a “safe place to sleep” for the homeless in Boston have set alarm bells ringing among locals saying it could turn into an open-air drug market.
The city plans to evacuate sprawling encampments in the Mass and Cass area, where violence has escalated and drug use is rampant.
Mayor Michelle Wu and other city officials announced the move Friday, and they are working to codify the city law and draft an ordinance to implement it.
According to the plans, police could remove tents, tarps and makeshift structures on Atkinson Street, which will be closed. A new short-term shelter will be built, which will house up to 30 homeless people.
Residents fear this will push drug trafficking and substance abuse into their neighborhoods, but a city official said drugs will not be allowed in the building and there will be 24-hour security.
New proposals to create a ‘safe place to sleep’ for the homeless in Boston have warned locals it could turn into an open-air drug market
The city plans to evacuate sprawling encampments in the Mass and Cass area, where violence has escalated and drug use is rampant.
Mayor Michelle Wu and other city officials announced the move Friday and they are working to codify the city law and draft an ordinance to implement it
The encampment at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard has become a drug haven and has become increasingly violent, according to police.
“No one is helped to live in a crowded and dangerous encampment frequented by hundreds of people engaged in drug trafficking and violence,” said Mayor Wu.
The proposal to allow police to remove tents requires city council approval. Wu said she would file an ordinance with the municipality on Monday.
No tents would be taken down until the people living in them get adequate housing, the treatment services they need, transportation and a place to store their personal belongings, city officials said.
Normally hundreds of people are seen around the encampments at a time, but only 30 people are said to stay overnight.
They are offered shelter in an indoor space on Massachusetts Avenue, near a building at the Boston Medical Center. Clinical services will be provided to men, women and couples.
The city’s health commissioner, Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, said: “In recent weeks, the situation on the ground at Mass and Cass has made it impossible for the Boston Public Health Commission and our partners to adequately provide critical services to those in need.
“Things need to change, and this regulation is a necessary step to get the situation under control.”
She said those transferred to the temporary shelter are “chronically displaced individuals with nowhere to go.”
Residents were briefed on the plans at a virtual community meeting on Tuesday, with the goal being to clean Atkinson Street by November.
According to the plans, police could remove tents, tarps and makeshift structures on Atkinson Street, which will be closed. A new short-term shelter will be built, which will house up to 30 homeless people
Residents fear this will push drug trafficking and substance abuse into their neighborhoods
But a city official said drugs will not be allowed in the building and there will be 24-hour security
Ojikutu said the solution was a temporary measure to “bring some order back” and reassured locals that “this is not a long-term plan at all.”
But South End residents were unimpressed and believe an unnecessary burden has been placed on their neighbourhood.
State Representative John Moran said, “This is ridiculous. I’m fed up with it. We’re not putting a fourth shelter in the South End.”
David Stone added: ‘This is going to be a disaster for the South End area.’
While George Stergios said, “We’re tired of the Band-Aids. This is another Band-Aid.’
The South End Forum wrote a letter opposing the scheme and sent it to councillors.
“Transforming Mass & Cass into ‘Mass & Albany’ is not the solution,” it read.
“With Atkinson Street closed, 200 or more people will be searching for where to go, a reality for which the city has no plan or answer at all.
Inevitably the drug scene will fix itself, except now centered around Mass. Ave and Albany, attracted by proximity and shifted services.”
Ojikutu stressed that drugs should not be allowed in the shelter and that security would be present 24 hours a day.
She said the room would have a metal detector and people staying there would have to register with officials, without the council being allowed to go outside.
“Safety is paramount,” she said.
Hundreds of people are usually seen around the encampments at a time, but only 30 people are said to stay overnight
There were an average of seven attacks per week in the area, which is more than double the average for the rest of the city
The ordinance wouldn’t just apply to Mass and Cass, but the entire city, so the problem isn’t just moving, Police Commissioner Michael Cox said.
The police will deploy mobile units and be present in the area at all times.
“We’re going to be in every neighborhood with these mobile teams to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Cox said.
In addition to the 30 temporary beds on the Boston Public Health Commission campus on Massachusetts Avenue, the city is also expanding accessible shelters in its emergency shelters.
Homelessness has been a problem in the neighborhood for a long time. In January 2022, after informing residents of the area, city public works employees bulldozed tents, tarpaulin and other garbage, including milk crates, wooden pallets and coolers, into garbage trucks for disposal.
Since then, more than 500 people living in the encampment have visited the city’s six low-cost housing locations, and 149 have moved into permanent housing, city officials said.
The violence in the Mass. and Cass area has reached a “new level of public safety alarm,” Mayor Wu said.
There were an average of seven attacks per week in the area, which is more than double the average for the rest of the city.