How well do we grapple with Mass. and Cass?

More police will not equate to more of the interventions we know to be effective.

Harm reduction is essential. Criminalization won’t work.

By decrying harm-reduction policies as failures, Carine Hajjar misstates the problem at the heart of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard: the city’s failure to provide adequate housing, treatment, and health care services (“Mass. and Cass shows the failure of progressive drug policies,” Ideas, Oct. 8). Criminalizing homelessness in the area would lead to more deaths and further divert taxpayer dollars away from actual solutions.

While necessary, decriminalization alone is insufficient. In Oregon, for example, Portland’s sluggish rollout of services and insufficient funding has obscured Measure

110’s successes. Importantly, integrated services are cost-effective; criminalization and policing are not.

Permanent supportive housing has long been studied (and shown) to be effective in addressing housing instability and, when integrated with evidence-based interventions, in promoting recovery. Permanent supportive housing, which combines housing with voluntary treatment and support services, costs around $10,000 to $13,000 per person per year. Foisting the problem on law enforcement costs more than $30,000.

The literature could not be more clear — incarceration and criminalization are ineffective and cause real harm. More police will not equate to more of the interventions we know to be effective. Neither is a piecemeal approach, with tepid funding, enough. We have the resources and knowledge to do better for our neighbors at Mass. and Cass. We have no excuse not to.

KIMBERLY HERBERT

Washington, D.C.

The writer has worked in community health and housing assistance in Boston.