A proposal to put Victory Program housing into a hotel near Mass and Cass has sparked an uproar, baffling residents, and prompting accusations that the city plans to establish a larger shelter in the area.
The controversy centers around the Best Western Plus hotel, also known as the Roundhouse Suites, located adjacent to the intersection of Mass Ave. and Melnea Cass Boulevard.
Despite its proximity to one of the largest drug hotspots in the state, it was employed as emergency housing by the Pine Street Inn during the pandemic.
It was vacated on July 1, and with some help from the city, the nonprofit aid organization Victory Programs announced plans to lease the building for 14 to 30 residents under their care.
Neighborhood groups have responded with concern and confusion over the placement of the housing and the refusal of Victory Programs to hear objections, even during meetings ostensibly for community feedback.
“This conversation is not regarding alternative spaces,” read an email from Victory Programs communications director Stephanie Ploof following a stakeholders meeting. “We have pursued other options both before and after last week’s meeting and, with the support of both the city and state, are continuing to move forward with the 891 Massachusetts Ave. plan at this time.” Steve Fox, head of the South End Forum, called the space “the worst possible location for a program designed to encourage recovery.”
“We need to give folks a fighting chance to take the difficult steps necessary to begin recovery,” he said in a statement. “The original idea was to offer a housing alternative to the drug market found at Mass and Cass. Clients waking each day at the Best Western would have the option of walking right out the door to their dealer.” Fox, along with the other attendees at a July 27 meeting of the Worcester Square Area Neighborhood Association (WSANA), expressed alarm that the community was only being brought in at the tail end of the decision-making process.
He also speculated that the city’s true intention was to establish a full shelter for the homeless, accusing the city of “clearly abandoning any semblance of a *decentralization strategy; and instead expanding the default warehousing environment they have already created at Mass and Cass.”
The question of the Victory Programs’ proposal occupied the bulk of the WSANA meeting, with members sharing confusion over the decision, proposing ways to oppose the move and echoing Fox’s concerns.
“We've been talking for five or six years about a moratorium on new services in Mass and Cass,” said George Stergios, vice president of WSANA.
“But we believe the city may be financing them to basically make half the building a shelter. This is the wrong place, it’s not good for any of us and it’s not good for people in recovery. You’re providing them a bed a block from where they shoot up.”
While the proposal is receiving substantial pushback, all parties were careful to highlight that they supported the mission of drug rehabilitation, housing for the homeless and Victory Programs itself. Many of the moves staunchest opponents are the same people that pushed for Victory Programs to receive the grant helping to fund the plan. “We love Victory Programs, we support housing first and we see a crying need for a housing first initiative in Mass and Cass,” said Stergios. “But this is the worst possible place to put that. I can’t imagine why the city is behind this.”
Most of the blame came to rest on political representatives, such as Acting Mayor Kim Janey. “Decentralization is key, and it’s all so clear to me. But it doesn’t seem to be clear to Kim Janey,” said Luis Fernando Riquena, another WSANA vice president. “She’s trying to play all sides, not taking into account what we, and the experts, have to say.”
