Issues around public drug use and homelessness in Davis Square got attention Thursday from Somerville’s City Council after frustrations were discussed in the previous weeks at a city-run public meeting and a meeting of concerned residents.
City administrators were asked to compile data on hypodermic needles collected by city staff, explore providing storage for unhoused people’s belongings and clarify the processes behind removing abandoned items. The three resolutions were filed by Ward 6 councilor Lance Davis and councilor at-large Kristen Strezo. Councilor Jake Wilson, a mayoral candidate, signed on to co-sponsor the resolutions.
“The administration needs a plan” and to explain the processes that balance helping the homeless with keeping residents feeling safe and “that the city is listening to them and responding,” Strezo said in a phone call.
In reference to a count of needles collected by city officials, Davis said he wants city officials to use whatever data is available, and to not create “a huge work project here” to start.
Knowing there is a “spectrum” of responses a city uses to deal with challenging issues, Davis said at the council meeting that his intent is “to understand the approach as it stands.”
On the issue of the property of unhoused people, Strezo was focused on making sure belongings “significant to anyone who may have left them” were being handled properly, including if they are removed from public spaces. “I am hearing continuously from residents in the area that this is an issue and it has piled up,” she said.
Strezo proposed a temporary storage facility for items cleared from public areas. It could be coordinated with a community partner such as the Somerville Homeless Coalition, she said.
Davis joined the conversation about the thoughtful clearing of materials from public places, referring to pictures he has received with “what appears to be discarded items around the port-a-potty that is in Seven Hills Park.”
Davis, a lawyer, said he used the word “abandoned” in his resolution “very deliberately,” conscious of its use as a legal concept and acknowledging “how damaging it can be when folks are separated from their belongings. That absolutely has to remain central to this conversation.”
“We know for certain that when folks who are experiencing homelessness are separated from their belongings, it often can set them back weeks or months,” Davis said.
All items were sent to the council’s Public Health and Public Safety Committee, which meets Oct. 21. Councilors said they expected officials from departments such as Health and Human Services to attend.
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