The city of Boston has begun removing tents and the personal encampments of people in the area known as Mass and Cass today, according to city officials.

The removal comes after efforts to clear the area were suspended during the winter.

“Individuals in the area are being asked to voluntarily remove their tent and are being encouraged to take advantage of the free shelter, substance use treatment, relocation, and storage options available to them,” the city said in a statement.

The clear out comes a week after a high profile arrest in the area when a Level 3 sex offender was charged with assault after allegedly following an MIT student into her Beacon Street apartment.

Nahom Getaneh, 33, was ordered held without bail last week pending his trial. He was arrested on Southampton street in the Mass and Cass area.

The location, at the intersection of the South End and Roxbury, has long been a gathering place and encampment zone for homeless people and those with substance abuse problems.

A year-long effort to deliver support services and temporary housing at the so-called roundhouse hotel can to an end on March 31.

Boston Medical Center, which is located near the troubled area, had been operating a multi-pronged operation out of the vacant Best Western Roundhouse Hotel at 891 Massachusetts Ave. since December 2021, housing homeless, providing clinical addiction services and doing outreach.

Efforts to clear the tent encampments reach back years and have occurred under former Mayors Marty Walsh, Kim Janey and now Mayor Michelle Wu.

Wu’s office in February called for greater support from the state and surrounding communities for the area.

Her office on Monday also announced a new “”Friends and Family Protocol” that seeks to to reconnect people with their supportive family and social networks.

That effort concentrates on the family and friends of homeless individuals by allowing them to fill out something like a missing person report with the city if they think someone they know is living on Mass and Cass.

“The protocol promotes reunification for consenting individuals” working with street outreach teams in the area, the city said on its website.

Alongside Monday’s effortr to clear the tents on Mass and Cass, the city said “daily outreach efforts continue and an enhanced case management team is connecting with every individual in the area and developing individualized service plans.”