Boston gets green light to restore addiction/mental health treatment facilities

WBUR reports that the City of Notions has begun renovating several buildings in Long Island to be used again for substance abuse and mental illness rehab. People in favor of safe, humane streets are lauding the move—though here in the Bay Area, it'd be quickly labeled as a coercive clink.

They've sat vacant for nine years on an island in Boston Harbor — more than a dozen buildings that once housed critical social service programs for people facing addiction and homelessness. Now city officials, led by Mayor Michelle Wu, are looking to restore the island's services as Boston grapples with the ongoing addiction crisis....

After receiving a key state permit this month to rebuild the bridge, the mayor's office arranged this week's visit to tout the city's plans to renovate many of the Long Island buildings. Wu wants to create a "regional public health campus" that would offer addiction and mental health treatment, housing and vocational training. She expects the bridge to be rebuilt and some services to be operational in four years....

The push for a Long Island campus comes as the city is struggling with rising violence and more people living in tents near the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, referred to as "Mass and Cass." Some providers have pulled their outreach workers from the area due to safety concerns, only blocks from one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the city.

Mayor Wu has promised to outline a "new strategy" to deal with the encampments there. Wu had them cleared from the streets in January of 2022, shortly after she took office, but people have been slowing returning to the drug-infested area. She is expected to outline her new strategy as soon as Friday morning and is considering giving police more explicit authority to remove tents.

This article originally appeared in WBUR. Read the whole thing here.

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