Wu, Healey hold first meeting; Mass and Cass crisis up for discussion
BOSTON - Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Governor-elect Maura Healey held their first private meeting Tuesday afternoon. One topic on the table? The crisis at Mass and Cass.
There has been friction between the city and the state over the issue in the past. However, Wu and Healey promised to work together, but they did not talk of specific solutions.
The situation at Mass and Cass is the subject of ongoing discussions at the state and city level, with people living in tents on the street. The city relocated some people in January but many have returned.
The city says the drug epidemic and the housing crisis have contributed to an increase in those experiencing unsheltered homelessness in the area.
Earlier this year, Wu asked the state to build 1,000 units outside of Boston to accommodate those in the Mass and Cass funding.
"State funding has, for about 30 years at this point, moved forward harm reduction and measures that are meant to save lives. And so Boston, like other cities across the Commonwealth - and frankly cities across the county - since about the early 1990s when data and studies have shown that in fact a big driver of transmissible diseases and fatalities was preventable," Wu said.
The state has already spent $40 million to address the opioid and homelessness crisis. Since January, the city has created nearly 200 housing units, and more the 100 people remain on a waiting list.