Mass. and Cass, also known as Methadone Mile or Recovery Road, is an area in Boston, Massachusetts, located at and around the intersection of Melnea Cass Boulevard and Massachusetts Avenue. Due to its concentration of neighborhood services providing help, the area around Mass. and Cass has long attracted a large number of people struggling with homelessness and drug addiction, especially after the closure of facilities on Long Island in Boston Harbor. It has been characterized as "the epicenter of the region's opioid addiction crisis". It was, for many years, a tent city and open air drug market. The tents were removed in the fall of 2023. As of September 2024, the tents were mostly gone but it was still a gathering place for the homeless and drug users. It is located in the area of Newmarket, an industrial part of Boston that includes some of Dorchester, South Boston, Roxbury and the South End.
Aftermath of Long Island closure
Closure of Long Island services On October 8, 2014, the city of Boston condemned the Long Island Viaduct, the neighborhood's only access point to Long Island. This led to closure of all homeless shelters and treatment services previously located on the island, leading to the displacement of approximately 700 people. Before the closure, 57% of the city's substance-use treatment beds were housed on Long Island. The Barbara McInnis House respite center, located in Boston, temporarily sheltered four dozen women on cots. Over a span of several months, around 440 guests per night (at peak capacity) were sheltered on cots and overflow mats at the South End Fitness Center.
Shelter openings at Mass. and Cass In January 2015, under the administration of Mayor Walsh, an old Boston transportation building at 112 Southampton St was renovated and turned into a 100-bed men's shelter. In April 2015, it became a 250-bed shelter. In June 2015, the shelter had 450 beds. The Woods-Mullen shelter on Massachusetts Avenue was converted into a female-only shelter in 2015, increasing its beds for homeless women from 66 to 200.
Business concerns Following the migration of homeless and addicts to Mass. and Cass, businesses in the year reported vandalism and difficulty hiring and retaining employees as they fear for their safety. The Greater Boston Food Bank spent more than $1 million on security since people began camping in the area. The effects of visible homelessness, addiction, mental illness, and desperation on local workers and housed residents, and the city's attempts to deal with the growing number of homeless people in the neighborhood, have generated considerable controversy. Businesses along Mass. and Cass applauded the tent camp sweeps in October 2021, but they were discontent with the city's decision of siting a temporary shelter at the Round House hotel. The business community expressed that the city reneged on the promise to decentralize services. The mayor did not respond to press inquiries.
Population As of September 2021, the number of tents in the Mass and Cass area was estimated to have grown from a dozen to more than 100. By July 2023, there were 140 people living in tents, lean-tos, and other ramshackle structures on nearby Atkinson Street. Each morning the area was cleared of people and structures so that the street could be cleaned. Shortly after the city workers finished, the tents, structures, and people would return. It was estimated in October 2023 that the majority of the people who congregated in the area during the day were not living there, but rather came in from outside of Boston to buy or sell drugs. It was thought that there were between 80 and 90 people who were living there.
Efforts to clear out the encampment
Operation Clean Sweep In 2019, Mayor Marty Walsh enacted plans to deal with the homelessness situation in the area. In an effort dubbed "Operation Clean Sweep", on August 1 and 2, 2019, the Boston police department made a series of 34 arrests in the Mass. and Cass area. With no notice, police confiscated and destroyed all encampment property, including wheelchairs, by crushing people's belongings in a garbage truck compressor. On August 1, 2019, a corrections officer was assaulted outside South Bay House of Correction. Operation Clean Sweep, in its two-day period, cost the city of Boston around $20,500 in police overtime. Critics of Operation Clean Sweep stated that it terrorized homeless residents, who avoided medical and social service providers for months following arrests, out of fear of being abused or incarcerated. It was also reported that the operation caused an increase in fatal overdoses, due to the separation of drug-users and providers that respond to and reverse overdoses in the Mass. and Cass area. In 2020, the ACLU accused Boston police of intimidation tactics and unlawful detention of pedestrians during Operation Clean Sweep. The Boston Globe revealed that Boston Police Commissioner William Gross praised the arrests in an email. Following the operation, encampments gradually returned to the area. Despite these interventions, widespread homelessness continued to be a problem when Walsh left office in 2021. Walsh was succeeded by interim mayor Kim Janey.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
