Boston Mayor Michelle Wu on Wednesday offered more details about the city's plan to connect people to various housing sites and remove tent encampments near the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, saying the area will be clear by Jan. 12.
Immediate housing locations, Wu said, include the Roundhouse hotel in Roxbury, the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital Campus in Jamaica Plain and the EnVision Hotel in the Jamaica Plain-Mission Hill area.
Taken together, the three sites amount to about 130 beds, falling short of the administration's stated goal to identify 200 beds for people living by the Mass. and Cass intersection.
A press release from Wu's office, though, said "dozens" of more low-threshold supportive housing placements, or beds with mental health and addiction supports, are slated to open up within weeks.
"With these actions, our goal is to bring residents out of the cold and into supportive housing, to change the status quo in this area and citywide,” Wu said in a statement. “Our team is taking every possible action to alleviate the humanitarian crisis at Mass Ave. and Melnea Cass Boulevard and keep this area clear of encampments moving forward."
After Jan. 12, Wu administration officials said, the city will enforce its rules against tent encampments via the Boston Public Health Commission outreach team and the Boston Police Department.
The announcement comes nearly two weeks after the Boston Herald first reported news of Wu's plans to house a portion of the Mass. and Cass population within Roxbury's Roundhouse hotel.
The mayor later revealed the city was exploring multiple sites but struggling to identify mental health and addiction specialists to provide services at each of the locations.
Neighbors and some elected officials have raised concerns about the opaque nature of the plan rollout and questioned the effectiveness of moving a high-needs population into housing without clear safety plans, timelines for more permanent arrangements or sources of funding.
Wu, who took office just under a month ago, has made addressing the area where homelessness, addiction, criminal and mental health issues spill out onto the city's streets a priority.
