Nearly half of the 200 supportive housing units Boston Mayor Michelle Wu touted as part of the city’s response to encampments in the “Mass. and Cass” area were funded by the state, a top Baker administration deputy said while describing the mayor’s call for more help from Beacon Hill as “surprising.”Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders penned a letter Wednesday pushing back on Wu’s public request for state government to get more involved in dealing with intertwined addiction and homelessness crises, outlining steps the executive branch has already taken and arguing instead that Boston is the entity that must now step up, the State House News Service reported.In her letter to Wu, which a Baker spokesperson provided to the News Service, Sudders said state government has steered $40 million toward the situation at Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard and also provides “direct funding” for Boston’s engagement center and syringe cleanup programs.”As the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, and our Departments of Public Health and Mental Health, have been working so closely with the City on these efforts, it was surprising to hear your comments at a press conference last week and reiterated again on a radio program this week that the City is seeking a ‘partnership’ with the state,” Sudders wrote. “Until the city disbanded its regular coordinating meeting on Mass and Cass in September, key staff from my office and the Department of Public Health were active participants.”Wu said Boston will “need the state to step up” by helping create another 1,000 supportive housing units with wraparound services in other cities and towns, pointing toward the creation of 200 such beds in Boston “in a matter of just a few months” as a guide.But Sudders sought to cut into Wu’s claim of success. Ninety-five of those 200 beds, she said, “were in fact initiated by and directly funded by the Commonwealth.”The administration also launched a request for proposals last week making $10 million available to build out low-threshold housing for homeless and housing insecure people with substance use disorders, which Sudders said would add 150 to 200 more units.”The Administration has been and continues to be a very willing partner in this crisis, but at this point, more work must be done by the City of Boston, including leveraging the nearly $5M of the $18M anticipated in opioid settlement funds to build trust and help people receive the housing, care, and support to find the pathway to recovery,”
Nearly half of the 200 supportive housing units Boston Mayor Michelle Wu touted as part of the city’s response to encampments in the “Mass. and Cass” area were funded by the state, a top Baker administration deputy said while describing the mayor’s call for more help from Beacon Hill as “surprising.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders penned a letter Wednesday pushing back on Wu’s public request for state government to get more involved in dealing with intertwined addiction and homelessness crises, outlining steps the executive branch has already taken and arguing instead that Boston is the entity that must now step up, the State House News Service reported.
In her letter to Wu, which a Baker spokesperson provided to the News Service, Sudders said state government has steered $40 million toward the situation at Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard and also provides “direct funding” for Boston’s engagement center and syringe cleanup programs.
“As the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, and our Departments of Public Health and Mental Health, have been working so closely with the City on these efforts, it was surprising to hear your comments at a press conference last week and reiterated again on a radio program this week that the City is seeking a ‘partnership’ with the state,” Sudders wrote. “Until the city disbanded its regular coordinating meeting on Mass and Cass in September, key staff from my office and the Department of Public Health were active participants.”
Wu said Boston will “need the state to step up” by helping create another 1,000 supportive housing units with wraparound services in other cities and towns, pointing toward the creation of 200 such beds in Boston “in a matter of just a few months” as a guide.
But Sudders sought to cut into Wu’s claim of success. Ninety-five of those 200 beds, she said, “were in fact initiated by and directly funded by the Commonwealth.”
The administration also launched a request for proposals last week making $10 million available to build out low-threshold housing for homeless and housing insecure people with substance use disorders, which Sudders said would add 150 to 200 more units.
“The Administration has been and continues to be a very willing partner in this crisis, but at this point, more work must be done by the City of Boston, including leveraging the nearly $5M of the $18M anticipated in opioid settlement funds to build trust and help people receive the housing, care, and support to find the pathway to recovery,”
