The growing encampment of unhoused residents in Seven Hill Park became a major subject of discussion in the city as the summer went on. I've heard a lot from Davis Square residents and business owners and from homeless advocates about what is a very challenging situation for the City, and this is something I've been following extremely closely.

My colleagues and I submitted a number of council orders at the first City Council regular meeting after the summer recess on August 22, and we discussed the situation in that meeting. Ward 6 Councilor Lance Davis -- whose ward includes Seven Hills Park -- spoke about conducting office hours in the park recently and what he observed. Ward 7 Councilor Judy Pineda Neufeld lives just blocks away from Seven Hills Park and her family's daycare provider is right there at the park, and she talked about her safety concerns as a woman and as a mom. I highlighted the challenge facing us as a city and the need to make sure we respond in the right way here, and highlighted the Administration's communication to the council earlier that day.

In that email to the City Council, the Mayor's Office spelled out the following plan for addressing concerns at Seven Hills Park:

To support public safety in the area, SPD has instituted a 24-hour directed patrol of Davis Square. You are encouraged to report any safety concerns to 911. They are trained to compassionately and appropriately intervene.

At the same time, our partners at the Somerville Homeless Coalition along with the City’s new Community Health Workers have increased their engagement efforts in Seven Hills Park to share resources and supportive services–aimed at both supporting these individuals and reducing impacts to other residents such as yourself.

The City has been and continues to undertake a range of interventions. The goal is to have the shelter and support needed so that persons experiencing homelessness will have safe places to stay overnight and visit during the day that will relieve pressure on our public spaces and offer our unhoused greater opportunity for stability. The Mayor fully agrees that we must have public spaces that are safe and accessible to all our residents such as yourself. To that end, interventions include but are by no means limited to:

• compassionate policing that addresses safety and delivers interventions, but does not criminalize homelessness
• running a seasonal overnight winter warming center (launched last winter)
• funding an expansion of overnight shelter capacity for the Somerville Homeless Coalition currently underway (ten additional beds)
• funding and partnering with the Homeless Coalition to help establish their now highly used day-time engagement center, where unhoused residents can access
• services that can lead to recovery, housing, and stability
• establishing our new Community Health Worker outreach team, which goes into the community to offer both homelessness related services as well as
• recovery/harm reduction supports and other health services
• launching public restrooms (Portland Loo’s) and working on mobile showers
• building capacity with a new City position dedicated to supporting our partner agencies that serve people experiencing homelessness

The work is ongoing. Each week, our City departments, including SPD, DPW, Health, Housing, and additional teams meet with partners at local outreach agencies to discuss and coordinate solutions to addressing homelessness and/or substance use. We’re in constant coordination throughout the week to troubleshoot and solve logistical issues like trash pickup, needle collection, public safety, basic need supplies, harm reduction (substance use disorder) supports, service referrals including for housing, and more. This collaborative work has successfully helped move individuals into both temporary and permanent housing, which again brings stability for those in need and relieves impacts to our public spaces.

I've since heard concerns from neighbors of the park that this plan is too focused on public health and long-term strategies and not enough on public safety and dealing with immediate concerns. I remain a believer what Ward 1 Councilor Matt McLaughlin articulated last summer as a two-pronged approach of Compassion and Accountability. Compassion for human beings in an unimaginable situation; Accountability in insisting on a minimal set of expectations for anyone in our community. Striking the right balance here will be key.

Some folks I've spoken to have indicated that they've seen some improvement in the conditions of the park and the behavior of member of the encampment in the past week. My visits to the park haven't been at consistent times where I feel like I can make any sort of even anecdotal personal observations, so I'll continue talking to people who are in and around the park regularly.

The items introduced at the August 22 meeting were sent to the Public Health and Public Safety Committee for discussion. Those will be taken up at the committee's next meeting on Wednesday, September 11 at 6 PM. While I don't serve on that committee, I'll be attending and I encourage you to do so as well.