Readers: Should Mass. and Cass move to Widett Circle?
A coalition of Boston businesses and neighborhood groups proposed temporarily moving the homeless encampment to Widett Circle.
A coalition of Boston businesses and neighborhood groups proposed moving the open-air drug market and homeless encampment in the area of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, known as “Mass. and Cass,” to Widett Circle last Friday, as the first step in a “solution-oriented proposal” to address the opioid and homelessness crisis in Boston.
Leaders of the South End Forum, an umbrella organization that represents neighborhood associations in Boston’s South End, and the Newmarket Business Improvement District presented a proposal that would set up dozens of temporary pallet houses to support residents throughout the various steps on their road to recovery.
They identified Widett Circle, a 24-acre property that was previously home to the New Boston Food Mart Corporation and is currently owned by the MBTA, as the proposed site for the new temporary recovery facility.
“They [the MBTA] bought it recently, and we know they have long-term plans for it. We’re looking in the short term for three to four years while Long Island [Bridge and addiction treatment center] is being built, while Shattuck [Hospital’s supportive housing] is being built,” Sue Sullivan, the Executive Director of Newmarket Business Improvement District, said at the press conference.
Stephen Fox, the chair of the South End Forum, said the main objective of the proposal is not to simply move the crisis from one location to another, but to address the crisis “and begin to move it into a solution-oriented system.”
“We must find a way to eliminate Mass. and Cass and Atkinson Street as a geographic activity center for human trafficking and drug use,” he said. “The challenge for us is not just to eliminate tents, or just to move people from one location to another. We need to create an opportunity where we can eliminate Mass. and Cass as an activity center, but channel all of the people that are there into a recovery model.”
Under the proposal, five to seven acres of Widett Circle would be used to house people as they go through five “zones,” each one designed to support a different phase of addiction recovery. The site would also offer on-site amenities such as laundry, bathrooms and a cafeteria.
“It’s not simply to provide a bed someplace on a one-night basis. It’s to provide a consistent opportunity for people to feel safe and to reach out for recovery modalities,” Fox said.
The site would feature around thirty pallet houses, similar to the Shattuck Hospital campus in Jamaica Plain, where those struggling with substance use issues would have a roof over their heads to sleep at night and access to nurses and recovery coaches.
Sullivan said a three-year commitment would cost about $25 million, which she said could be split between the city, state, federal government and private funders. If the plan quickly wins support, she said the site could be up and running by winter.
Meanwhile, Sullivan said there has to be enforcement on the streets to prevent people from relapsing.
“There has to be a no tent policy and there has to be no open drug use on the streets,” she said.
The proposal has been a collaborative effort 10 years in the making, according to Fox, that couldn’t have come at a better time for the city. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said earlier this month that public safety concerns regarding the area have spiked in recent weeks, prompting outreach organizations to pull their teams off the street.
“We have to get going on a different approach,” Wu said in an interview on the online “Java with Jimmy” show. “This is the issue that I feel like we’ve been pouring a lot into, and have to make a judgment call that we need to reorient and really find the approach that’s going to make a big difference.”
More than 2,300 people in Massachusetts died of opioid-related overdoses in 2022 — the highest number ever recorded — the Boston Globe reported.
“We need to stop this cycle and address the root cause,” Sullivan said.
Tell us: Do you agree with the proposal to move Mass. and Cass to Widett Circle? What steps should the city and local organizations take to address drug trafficking, human trafficking, and violence in the area?
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