Dozens of tents reappearing in Boston’s Newmarket Square

BOSTON — Dozens of encampments are reappearing near the Mass and Cass location in Boston where more than 150 tents were forced to vacate from.

An executive order signed by outgoing Mayor Kim Janey last month banned tents on public property. City workers have been working for weeks to clear encampments from a stretch of Southampton Street near the South End and lower Roxbury.

Community activists told Boston 25 News about two-thirds of those who packed up entered shelters, treatment facilities or housing situations. They said the others have migrated less than 500 yards south to the corner of Newmarket Square and Theodore Glynn Way.

“The city was going tent to tent, begging people to go into shelter,” said Sue Sullivan, president of the Newmarket Business Association. “The shelters are not perfect, but they’re a far cry better than women getting raped in these tents or people overdosing.”

Sullivan told Boston 25 News that the new row of about 50 tents now sits closer to a high concentration of businesses in the food industry.

“These are all of our food businesses that are distributing to every single restaurant and grocery store in Boston,” explained Sullivan. “They can’t have this kind of public health crisis down here. It’s just not safe.”

According to Sullivan, some business owners in the new location have been dealing with threats and damage to their properties.

“Four nights ago, they set fire to pallets on a loading dock. It cost the business $150,000 in damage,” explained Sullivan. “Someone is going to get killed.”

Business leaders point to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU last week for stalling further action. The lawsuit was filed last Thursday on behalf of three unhoused people to protect “the legal rights and safety” of people being evicted from encampments. A judge has since issued an order sending the lawsuit to the Superior Court for expedited review.

“This order reflects the seriousness of this lawsuit, and the City should take it as a moment to pause its enforcement actions so that the Superior Court can consider these critical issues,” said Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts. “For the plaintiffs and others residing in the Mass. and Cass area, displacement does not simply mean losing shelter; indeed, it cuts off their access to the medications, services, and community that keep them alive. There is no need for the City of Boston to press forward with these harmful displacements until the law and viable alternative housing are firmly in place.”

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