Boston prepares to remove tents from 'Mass. and Cass' area

Boston police and public health workers will begin enforcing a new ordinance banning tents and tarps from public streets on Nov. 1.

The city council passed the measure Wednesday, which aims to clear the tent encampment in the area around Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, which has seen increased drug use and homelessness. Mayor Michelle Wu signed it Wednesday evening.

"Our goal is to permanently shift the dynamic on the street, and in the surrounding neighborhood, and citywide, to be safer and healthier for everyone," Wu said in a press conference Thursday.

The new law bans encampments on public streets and sidewalks. It requires police and city workers to offer people shelter, transportation, and storage for their belongings before they take down a tent.

If shelters are full on any given day, tents would be allowed to stand.

Wu said city crews were out posting signs Thursday morning in 11 languages with information about the change.

"This isn't just a seven-day notice that they're getting suddenly out of the blue," she said. "Our teams have been working with them every single day and over the last few weeks, really ramping up outreach, person by person, tent by tent."

Boston Housing Chief Sheila Dillon said the city has set up or identified about 100 temporary shelter beds to accommodate people leaving tents next week. That includes a new 30-bed "safe sleeping site" at the Boston Public Health Commission's campus on Massachusetts Avenue.

Boston police will also significantly increase their presence in the area. The department plans to deploy an additional 14 officers, three sergeants and one captain to the area, according to an initial plan provided to the Boston City Council.

"It's going to be a lot more police there," Police Commissioner Michael Cox said Thursday at the press conference. "We're going to have revolving teams of people throughout the city to help enforce this, to make sure encampments don't occur throughout the city."

The city estimates the deployment will cost an additional $440,000 next month.

Some public health advocates fear the increased law enforcement activity and involuntary displacement will further harm vulnerable people living in the area.

"I think the police presence alone is not a public health solution," Abigail Judge, clinical director of the Boston Human Exploitation and Trafficking program, told WBUR's Radio Boston. "When there's law enforcement it's actually going to activate people's PTSD."

The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, which has sued the city over its tent removal operations in the past, also said it would monitor next week's activities.

There are currently about 52 tents and at least 85 people in the area of "Mass. and Cass," according to the latest city count.