BOSTON - Tuesday,
October 19, 2021 - Mayor Kim Janey today signed an Executive Order Establishing a Coordinated Response to
Public Health and Encampments in the City of Boston. The order is a result
of the outbreak of COVID-19 in the City of Boston, which exacerbated
unsheltered homelessness and increased the number of individuals across the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts facing opioid addiction. Through the multi-departmental,
collaborative approach, the City seeks to address the public health and
public safety concerns through enhancing efforts to provide housing to
those experiencing homelessness. The executive order seeks to ensure the
public health and public safety of individuals living in tents and
encampments throughout the City of Boston, in particular at the epicenter
of the crisis in the area of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass
Boulevard.
In parallel with
Mayor Janey’s executive order, Boston Public Health Commission Executive
Director Dr. Bisola Ojikutu has issued a temporary order relative to the ongoing public health
emergency relative to COVID-19 declaring that substance use disorder,
unsheltered homelessness and related issues in the City of Boston
constitute a public health crisis.
“Boston has been a
regional leader in supporting people who are gripped by substance use
disorder and made even more vulnerable by mental illness and homelessness.
As the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbates these problems, City of Boston workers
have been on the ground, providing life-saving support to the people on our
streets from cities and towns across Massachusetts and beyond,” said Mayor
Janey. “With this executive order, residents facing substance use disorder
and unsheltered homelessness can have the shelter and treatment they need
to help them be safe and get better. Thank you to our entire team and all
of our partners who are working to ensure our most vulnerable neighbors are
healthy and safe.”
Through the
Executive Order, the City of Boston has established the following
multi-pronged strategy:
Establish a central
command structure: City of Boston
Office of Health & Human Services, working in direct partnership with
the State Executive Office of Health & Human Services, will create and
lead a central command structure to strengthen overall street level interventions,
ensure alignment of resources for those in need, and direct efforts to
address the public health crisis created by encampments in Boston. The
central command structure shall track, and provide to all relevant
departments, information concerning available shelter and treatment
options.
Implement procedures
and social service interventions to address public health crisis created by
tents or temporary shelters: As stated in existing laws, coupled with the Public Health
Emergency, tents and temporary shelters will no longer be allowed on the
public ways in the City of Boston. The Mayor’s Office will publish a
revised Homeless Encampment Protocol that will reflect the principles
outlined in the executive order. That Protocol will establish procedures
for assessing the needs of unsheltered individuals, performing intensive
and persistent outreach and engagement, and providing low-barrier pathways
to housing with a goal of connecting individuals with appropriate shelter
and services. All such enforcement and actions should not criminalize the
status of being an unsheltered individual, an individual with substance use
disorder, or an individual with mental illness. The Protocol will clearly
state that no City of Boston employee will require an unsheltered
individual to remove their encampment from public property unless there is
shelter available for that individual.
Identifying shelter
for immediate placements: The City’s Department of Neighborhood Development and the
Boston Public Health Commission will work partner agencies to bring
additional beds online, including low-threshold beds, to support regional,
re-housing and stabilization efforts serving individuals experiencing
unsheltered homelessness.
Establishing clear
and clean streets and walkways: The Boston Transportation Department and the Department of
Public Works will implement road safety measures to improve road and
sidewalk safety and access and focus on the cleanliness of the area and
conduct ongoing street and sidewalk cleaning in the Massachusetts Avenue
and Melnea Cass Boulevard area.
Increasing Crime and
Violence Control and Enforcement: The Boston Police Department will continue to enforce all
laws related to drug trafficking, human trafficking, disorderly conduct,
and trespassing to address the victimization of individuals suffering from
substance use disorder. Additionally, the City of Boston will work with
relevant partners to prioritize, when appropriate, diversion to treatment
programs for individuals who are court-involved.
“The Mass and Cass
area has become the most visible presence of the opioid crisis in Boston,
and the issues we face have grown in complexity throughout the pandemic,”
said Chief of Boston’s Health and Human Services, Marty Martinez. “This
multilayered executive order keeps urgency, equity, and public health
strategies at the forefront of everything we do.”
The City continues
to work to connect those struggling with substance use disorder and
experiencing homelessness to services. During the first ten months of the
present calendar year, the Office of Recovery Services street outreach team
has conducted over 21,000 interactions with individuals on the street (over
2,100 monthly), making over 7,000 referrals to services (over 700 referrals
monthly).
The City also
continues to create pathways to permanent housing, prioritizing the
vulnerable unsheltered population in the Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea
Cass Boulevard area. The Office of Recovery Services is working with the
City’s Street to Home initiative to house 25 individuals every month for at
least three months from the Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard
area who have chronic experiences of unsheltered homelessness, mental
health challenges, and substance use disorder.
The full executive
order can be found here.
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