Wu quickly advances plan to clear Mass. and Cass
Those living in the encampments have until Nov. 1 to relocate
Mayor Michelle Wu unveiled a detailed plan early Thursday for quickly clearing tent encampments in the area around the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, while taking steps to address the underlying problems that turned the area into a dangerous haven for addicts and sex traffickers.
Flanked by the police commissioner and several of her top administrators, Wu framed the coordinated effort as a permanent and empathetic solution to the prolonged humanitarian crisis at the intersection known as Mass. and Cass, widely considered the epicenter of the region’s opioid abuse and homeless crises. The area has been plagued by violence, prompting several nonprofits working with the city to pull their outreach teams because of safety concerns.
“Our goal is to permanently shift the dynamic on the street and in the surrounding neighborhood,” Wu said at a press conference Thursday morning.
The mayor’s plan calls for the full dismantling of tents and other structures at Mass. and Cass by month’s end — an effort that will include heavy involvement by the Boston Police Department and a coordinated outreach effort by social service agencies. It comes a day after the Boston City Council passed an ordinance that makes it easier for police to quickly clear tent encampments.
Under Wu’s plan, tents would be removed from streets or sidewalks only after the occupants were offered shelter, transportation to shelter, and the opportunity to store their personal
‘WE CANNOT LET THAT STAND’ Mayor Michelle Wu said the plan will include heavy involvement by Boston police and city social service agencies.
belongings. Previously, authorities were required to give 48-hour notice before removing tents, except for street cleaning.
Citing worsening violence and other unsafe conditions, Wu and her staff repeatedly emphasized the urgency of the effort. The 80 to 90 people living at Mass. and Cass received written notice early Thursday that they must vacate the area by Nov. 1st.
“At its core, what we are talking about is health, safety, comfort, and dignity,” Wu said. “No one in the city of Boston should be living in a tent on the street, especially as the temperatures fall, with no running water, no heat, the transmission of illnesses ... We cannot let that stand.”
Many of the tents and ramshackle structures along Atkinson Street have become hotbeds of criminality, including sales of illicit drugs like fentanyl and sex trafficking. Concerns over violence at the encampment peaked in late summer. There was a string of assaults, including multiple stabbings and one person was beaten with a baseball bat, according to police.
On Thursday, Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox said there will be a much heavier police presence in the Mass. and Cass area, as well as heightened efforts to prevent further encampments. In the coming days, the department will open a “command center” near Mass. and Cass staffed with officers who will enforce the Nov. 1 deadline, as well as support outreach workers there. The department also plans to develop mobile police squads that will quickly respond if they receive reports of further encampments appearing elsewhere in the city, officials said.
City officials said Thursday that they have enough emergency shelter beds to accommodate everyone at the site who wants a bed. The city has reserved 100 shelter beds for the effort and will open 30 transitional beds Monday at a Boston Public Health Commission facility at 727 Massachusetts Ave. Social workers will work with people once they get to the shelters to help them access permanent housing and substance use treatment, officials said.
“Every single day we will be assessing where there’s beds available in shelter and making sure that people who are in tents and on the street have available shelter beds,” said Sheila Dillon, the city’s chief of housing.
According to police and city officials, the majority of the people who gather daily at the Mass. and Cass area do not live there and come from outside the Greater Boston area, often to buy or to sell illicit drugs. “We want to make it clear to the people who come to this city to use drugs and ... to victimize the people in these areas, that we’re not going to allow that,” Cox said.
The chaos at Mass. and Cass has vexed city officials for years and has been among Wu’s steepest challenges since she took office nearly two years ago. Many trace the origins of Mass. and Cass to the sudden closing in 2014 of the Long Island bridge, which included the evacuation of more than 400 people staying on the island’s homeless facilities and 300 in recovery programs.
Yet Wu’s plan has come under criticism from some homeless outreach workers and addiction treatment specialists, who are concerned that it’s too rushed and could cut people off from vital services.
“This will cause chaos within that community,” said Gary Langis, a harm reduction specialist at Boston Medical Center who does some outreach work at the encampment. “The people who use [illicit drugs] will get disconnected from where they get their drugs and buy from less-trusted sources, and that will put them at much greater risk of an overdose.”
Marina Coelho, a recovering addict who lived on sidewalks and in cars near Mass. and Cass for nearly two years, said many of the people in the area have housing, yet visit the site daily because it provides ready access to illicit drugs. Once they are displaced, she said, they will likely return or find another spot to use, she said.
“You can’t just sweep this problem away in seven days,” Coelho said. “Addicts there need to support their habit and they feel better doing it around their own people.”
Even some city councilors who voted to pass the ordinance have questioned whether it’s too harsh.
“Cities and towns across New England also have a responsibility to help their residents find housing, support services, and treatment programs,” said Council President Ed Flynn, who voted in favor of the ordinance, in a written statement Thursday. “While Boston is a compassionate city, we need a coordinated response statewide and regionally to address the issue of homelessness and addiction.”
In late 2021, a coalition of public health, addiction, housing, and civil liberties advocates called on Wu to take a “healthcentered approach” to the problems at Mass. and Cass. The coalition released a six-point plan for city and state officials. The ACLU of Massachusetts, a member of that coalition, sued the city over past attempts to evict people from the area without providing them with housing options.
The civil rights group said it is closely monitoring the implementation of the ordinance and has called on Wu’s administration to ensure that there are sufficient emergency shelter beds to accommodate those being displaced from the site.
“The City cannot wave a magic wand to undo the effects of the multiple, interlinked, decades-old policy and budgetary failures that contribute to the suffering we see today,” the ACLU said in written testimony last month.
‘While Boston is a compassionate city, we need a coordinated response statewide and regionally to address the issue of homelessness and addiction.’ COUNCIL PRESIDENT ED FLYNN, said in a statement