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City Council approves Wu’s plan to clear tents from Mass. and Cass

The plan will allow police and outreach workers to quickly clear encampments at Mass. and Cass. It has been the subject of debate for months.

By Ross Cristantiello

October 26, 2023

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Boston City Council voted Wednesday to approve an amended version of Mayor Michelle Wu’s plan to quickly clear encampments from Mass. and Cass. 

The plan, introduced by Wu in August, seeks to return Atkinson Street to a functioning roadway and improve public safety by clearing out the tents and tarp structures that authorities say hide a variety of illegal activity. It would enable police to clear the structures more quickly, while creating a framework to help those that are being displaced. 

After a marathon public hearing and a working session with city officials, councilors signed off on a slightly amended version of the plan created by Councilor Ricardo Arroyo. The plan would have automatically gone into effect at the end of the month if City Council did not take action. 

Nine councilors voted in favor: Liz Breadon, Gabriela Coletta, Sharon Durkan, Tania Fernandes Anderson, Michael Flaherty, Ed Flynn, Ruthzee Louijeune, Erin Murphy, and Brian Worrell. Councilors Arroyo, Frank Baker, and Kendra Lara voted against the plan. Councilor Julia Mejia voted “present.”

Multiple councilors expressed measured support of the plan, while voicing their concerns about the wider issues of homelessness, substance abuse, and mental health that plague residents. 

Louijeune said that the testimonies of outreach workers and police officers, who spend most of their days at Mass. and Cass, helped persuade her of the plan’s efficacy. The situation, where some live in tents but many more congregate to participate in a variety of illegal activities, is untenable, she said. The tents must be cleared not because they are aesthetically unappealing, but because they hide criminal activity. Getting people into shelter is an important first step on the road to recovery, she added. 

“I don’t think that this is ultimately going to be the solution, but can it be part of what’s getting us there? I believe so, as long as we are protecting peoples’ first amendment rights,” Louijeune said. 

In response to the vote, ACLU of Massachusetts Executive Director Carol Rose called on policymakers at all levels of government to ensure that people have safe shelter, especially as the state’s emergency shelter system reaches capacity.

“Everyone deserves to be safe and treated with humanity, regardless of whether they have stable housing. We know that attempts to criminalize homelessness and sweep people out of sight consistently fail to solve the public health and safety challenges unfolding in areas such as Mass. and Cass,” Rose said in a statement. “The ACLU will be watching to ensure that people’s rights are not violated in the execution and enforcement of this ordinance.” 

Councilor Baker said he cast a “no” vote because the plan emphasized low-threshold housing that does not require sobriety. Baker said he would prefer a solution that focuses on treatment. 

“This is handcuffing us into housing first. This is mandating that we give housing to people that show up, and because they have a tent, they get housing. It’s got to be treatment first, and then the carrot at the end would be that housing,” he said. 

Arroyo, who chairs the Committee on Government Operations, led a recent working session on the ordinance and put forth the amended plan that was approved. His amendments eliminate fines, male sure public health officials are consulted when shelter is unavailable, forces the city to provide clarity on transportation services, track shelter space daily, and notify people of tent removal in multiple languages. 

The initial ordinance included a $25 fine for those that do not comply with it. Boston Police officials said during the working session that the goal was not necessarily to collect the fines, but to have something they can issue before jumping straight into an arrest. That fine will now be replaced with a verbal warning system, as there were concerns that the fines would not be paid and that they would “follow people around,” Arroyo said. 

Arroyo said he opposed the plan because he has not seen evidence that clearing homeless encampments truly works. 

“I’ve opposed it for every other administration that has done this. Under [Former Mayor Marty] Walsh, under [Former Acting Mayor Kim] Janey, we have had sweeps or clearing of encampments. The fact that we’re still here talking about it should tell you just how blatantly unsuccessful those attempts have been,” he said. 

Fernandes Anderson said she was worried about what will happen after the tents are cleared. She said she was not reassured by her conversations with Boston Police officials, and was dubious about their ability to prevent other encampments from popping up. 

But Fernandes Anderson said she voted yes because it boils down to one question. 

“Here before us is an issue of ‘if we remove the tents, is that harm reducing, is… going into a shelter better than being in tents?’” she said, adding that this will only be the “first step” in addressing the problem.

Flynn cited conversations he’s had with police and firefighters, saying that Atkinson Street must be restored so that first responders can get to where they need to be. 

He said his major concern was the quality of life for those in nearby neighborhoods who may see the problems of Mass. and Cass move to their own backyards. Police Commissioner Michael Cox assured him that preventing this was a top priority, Flynn said. He called out the BPD and Boston Public Health Commission for not providing enough information, and said he would be working closely with them in the future.

But the safety concerns and criminal activity must not be tolerated, he said. 

“We also have to be more aggressive on people at Mass. and Cass that are dealing drugs, that are engaged in violence, that are engaged in assaults. We can no longer look away and allow that type of terrible treatment, especially to women, to take place ever again in this city,” Flynn said. 

Arroyo, despite voting against the plan, said Wu and her administration were well-intended and he applauded their efforts to add housing and seek long-term solutions. But more investment from the state level is needed, he said. 

Speaking right before councilors cast their votes, Arroyo said that the humanity of those living at Mass. and Cass must not be ignored. 

“These are human beings, these are people,” he said. “We often talk about Mass. and Cass and tents and people experiencing homelessness and addiction as problems that need to be solved, rather than people who deserve care.”