1/This report on the homeless “sweep” at Boston’s Mass & Cass highlights a tragedy to which the city contributes, and some helpful points for people thinking about unsheltered homelessness wgbh.org/news/local-new…
2/The City’s accumulation of persons who are unsheltered partly results from the City’s closure of its Long Island Shelter, which was often used by people with drug use disorder - I used to work there 
3/But it is also true many people really do not tolerate congregate shelters at all. Close quarters with people who might be intoxicated or paranoid is actually not an easy thing.
4/It is mentioned that the City is putting some people with active opioid use disorder in jails without treatment (an inhumane practice but in no way unique to this state). But it is Mass. data that show ⬆️ overdose death rate for people who go through this.
5/It may help to note that Boston sits on a spit of highly developed land with high cost properties (a bit like SF). This likely contributed to having more unsheltered people in one place - that arrangement is a collective decision
6/Given the primitive state of online debates on homelessness, I encourage reading professor Brendan O’Flaherty - the place characteristics are more strongly associated with the number of persons homeless and the people characteristics influence who becomes homeless
7| Unsheltered homelessness draws community upset and rancorous polarized discussion. But for all of that @naehomelessness reminds us the majority of persons homeless are in sheltered settings, often including families with children
8/I understand the community frustrations with seeing people homeless. I want to note that it is usually pretty awful to *be homeless* even if the statement “I am here because I choose to be” is sometimes said. Behind the “choice” is a story we can’t presume to know /fin
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