With warmer weather, Boston expands policing and other efforts at 'Mass. and Cass'

As rising temperatures bring more people outside, Boston and state officials are expanding efforts to crack down on outdoor substance use. The efforts are focused on the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, or "Mass. and Cass," a hub of the state's opioid epidemic.

In the state Legislature, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Aaron Michlewitz said his committee will add $4 million in its proposed budget to help Boston's efforts.

"Funding these programs in combination with other efforts the city will be making is the next critical step in our work and will hopefully serve as a model going forward," Michlewitz said at a press conference Thursday in Roxbury.

Michlewitz said more than half of the state funds would support city grants for housing services, such as sober homes and halfway houses. Some $500,000 would go to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office to set up a pre-arraignment diversion program, and $400,000 would fund more long-term treatment beds. Michlewitz said the money will be in the committee budget released next week.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said the city's approach has evolved since she took office in 2021. At that time, the "Mass. and Cass" area was the site of a large tent encampment and Wu promised a "public health approach" that would focus on providing housing and services.

There are now limited people gathering on the streets in that area, after the mayor had the encampment cleared in late 2023. Wu attributes the changes in the area to several efforts including directing people to treatment services and patrolling of city streets by Boston police, as well as state and transit police, to crack down on outdoor substance use.

" Four and a half years ago, our administration started and decided to try to do something different," Wu said at the press conference. "It is that relentless determination to continue building up this infrastructure that has gotten us to where we are today."

The Boston Public Health Commission's executive director, Bisola Ojikutu, said city health workers will work to ensure that a range of care is offered to people, including addiction medications and so-called "harm reduction" services that help people use drugs safely.

"I am very proud of our legacy of crafting innovative, collaborative, evidence-based and compassionate policy and programming," Ojikutu said. "We have made Boston an example for our country, even during the most challenging and adversarial times, like now."

Wu pointed to work that began last fall, when the city's Coordinated Response Team joined with the Boston police department's Neighborhood Engagement Safety Team in to direct people congregating on the streets to services. Since September, Wu said, the team has engaged more than 800 people and placed more than 600 people into inpatient substance use treatment.

Wu said the same team will lead the city's "Warmer Weather Initiative," providing outreach to those using drugs on Boston's streets.

That initiative officially began last week with help from state and transit police. Since then, Wu has said the team engaged with more than 160 people and helped 90 people "onto a recovery pathway."