Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced Tuesday a new, 11-point warm weather plan to address the confluence of homeless, substance use disorder, mental health and criminal issues that intersect and abound near the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, known as Mass. and Cass.
The goals of the seasonal plan, Wu said Tuesday, include tamping down criminal activity in the area as well as to “improve health and cleanliness, reduce overcrowding” and prevent tent encampments from resurfacing by offering service referrals and advance notices before removing tents and temporary structures that spring up on city property.
“More than ten city departments — including the Boston Public Health Commission, Boston Police Department, Office of Housing and Public Works Department, Boston Fire, EMS — make up our coordinated response team,” said Mayor Wu from City Hall. “All of them are working towards our shared goal of connecting all experiencing homelessness or substance use disorder to services, shelter and housing.”
The Wu administration’s Mass. and Cass warm weather plan comes as Boston Police highlight a steady stream of criminal incidents in the area and Boston nears the summer months when people of various socioeconomic statuses increasingly gather outdoors.
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Mayor Wu committed to humanely addressing the Mass. and Cass area early in her term. In mid-January, within a month and a half of being sworn into office, she ordered the area to be cleared and moved more than 100 of the area’s former tent encampment residents into supportive housing.
City Housing Chief Sheila Dillon said there are 300 units of permanent supportive housing currently in construction to help the population transition into more stable living arrangements that are distinct from shelters.
“Traditional shelters do not work for these individuals, and in response, they often choose the street,” said Dillon, pointing to the ramping up of permanent supportive housing developments.
The prior goal of humanely addressing the area with minimal arrests and police involvement seemed to take a back seat to increased safety as BPD Lieutenant Peter Messina, who works the Street Outreach Unit, explained the warm weather plan will bring increased law enforcement presence in the Mass. and Cass area.
“This will include the continued enforcement of all drug laws and all laws involving human trafficking, the apprehension of individuals with outstanding warrants, and the prevention and enforcement of property crimes and violent crimes,” Lt. Messina said, pointing to16 arrests made in the area in the past week.
Messina added the police department will try to collaborate with the district attorney’s office and the courts to steer people with certain challenges away from legal consequences.
“We are focusing on continued diversion for individuals suffering from substance use disorder, mental illness and homelessness while working towards enforcement for the criminal actors preying on these individuals,” he said.
As part of the warm weather plan, Wu said the city will solicit proposals for two new day service centers in other neighborhoods and provide transportation to make them accessible. The centers, administration officials said, would provide case management and assistance with probation and other legal issues related to reentry.
Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, director of the Boston Public Health Commission, said moving people and services out of the Mass. and Cass area would be key to the warm weather plan.
“Every corner of the city has been impacted by substance use and homelessness, therefore decentralization is an important aspect of the city’s strategic vision,” Ojikutu said, adding that the commission will expand its mobile Access Harm Reduction Overdose Prevention Education program, or AHOPE, beyond its locations in Roxbury and Downtown Boston.
Officials said Tuesday they are also piloting a van transportation service to shuttle people back and forth between areas where they can find services and assistance.
