As tent removal begins in the troubled area of Mass. and Cass in Boston, Mayor Michelle Wu said on Wednesday the city is "making great progress" with clearing Atkinson Street, where many of the tent encampments and tarp structures are set up.
Wu said once the last tent is down, the city will make sure the street is cleaned and that there are more services to ensure that the area is "how it should be."
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In the meantime, community partners from various groups and organizations were assessing the needs of some of the residents and are helping them transition in the right direction. They are being matched — based on need — with the 200 low threshold housing units with medical support, recovery services and job counseling that are available.
If the tents aren't cleared by Wednesday, Wu said they won't be knocked down and are not suggesting police start arresting people.
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At the moment, there are 14 tents that remain standing, said Tania Del Rio, director of Coordinated Response Team.
Del Rio said that as of Tuesday, 52 people completed their move to their placement — "whether that be a family reunification, a shelter placement." 25 others, she said, accepted the offer the city provided to them and are in the process of packing.
Del Rio said they also completed nine friends, family or housing reunifications, and that seven people will be provided placement assignment on Wednesday.
"This is an issue we're never going to give up on because we all know, relatively speaking, it is a manageable one to make sure we can be placed where individuals get what they need and we can demonstrate what's possible by coordinating services," said Wu.
Wu said that every single major city in the country has to complete a census of unsheltered people each year. To make a comparison, she said that last year, Los Angeles had about 25,000 unsheltered people. Boston, on the other hand, reported 119.
"We see this as a community of people who we are determined to ensure are moving forward with their recovery journey, and also contributing to the community and plugging back into the families they love, the neighborhoods they grew up in, and the city that they want to be a part of," explained Wu.
While Wu said this issue will not be fixed overnight, she said she feels "grateful and confident that the coordination we've seen is unlike ever before in the city."
"We need to continue working statewide and regionally and beyond to address this, as we know many folks are coming to Boston because we have services here that have been setup," she said. "But we're going to continue showing what can happen when you treat each individual person as a human being."
Wu said the Mass. and Cass Clearing Ordinance is about improving quality of life for unhoused people and public safety.
Boston police were on Atkinson Street Wednesday to enforce the city's new ordinance — which was approved by the City Council on Oct. 25.
