Mass and Cass is declared a public health crisis.

Also known as Methadone Mile, the tent encampment of homeless and many drug-addicted people is located on Atkinson Street. Responding to complaints from residents and despite protests by public health experts, the city clears the area in January 2022 and again in November 2023, but the solution to the larger problems of homelessness and drug addiction remains elusive. As Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi subsequently writes, “It would take a change of heart in those of us in the suburbs who think of ourselves as Bostonians when it comes to sports, politics and culture – but not when it comes to Mass. and Cass.”