Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation officials said they are seeing a rise in unhoused people and unauthorized encampments along state-owned property, a situation that has created public health, safety, and environmental risks.
Staff at the agency have started to clean up encampments along the Boston University Bridge near Storrow Drive, two sites with multiple tents along the inbound side of Soldiers Field Road, and a tent near Magazine Beach in Cambridge, according to agency officials.
A spokesperson for the Department of Conservation and Recreation said the agency recently hired a public health advisor and has worked with the Department of Public Health to clear out the encampments.
“We are seeing a rise in unhoused individuals and unauthorized encampments and tents on DCR-owned property, which has created public health, safety, and environmental risks, including fires and erosion,” the spokesperson said in a statement to the Herald.
The spokesperson said the agency “is collaborating with agency partners, municipalities, legislators, and local health and social service organizations to protect our public lands and to provide unhoused individuals with the opportunity to receive essential care services.”
A spike in encampments on state property comes after the Boston City Council approved a measure in October 2023 that allowed police to clear out the tents near Massachusetts Ave and Melnea Cass Boulevard. Tents started coming down weeks later.
Workers cleaning the four sites on DCR property have found multiple propane tanks weighing about 20 pounds each, illicit substances, large piles of garbage, and human waste, according to the spokesperson. Those findings pose safety risks for nearby students at a high school and Boston University, the agency said.
Improperly discarded propane tanks near open flames are an explosion risk anywhere, but especially near a bridge or a street with heavily congested traffic like Soldiers Field Road, according to the agency.
Active propane tanks, even if they are used properly, also pose an explosion risk that could harm unhoused people at the encampments and other people at businesses, schools, and drivers on the Boston University Bridge and Soldiers Field Road, the agency said.
A fire broke out in October 2023 at a homeless encampment by the Boston University Bridge, causing damage to state property and creating a public safety risk in the area, the spokesperson said.
The public health advisor and DCR field staff assess the risk encampments pose to the public and the environment after receiving a report of the sites.
If the risk is deemed high due to hazardous materials like propane tanks or illegal substances, the site needs to be cleaned up quickly, the spokesperson said.
In the week after the confirmation of a clean-up, DCR officials provide notice to the unhoused people at the site and staff place notices to vacate on unauthorized encampments and tents, the agency said.
The notices tell people that they need to move and provide them with information about social service organizations that can assist with their relocation, the spokesperson said.
For the encampment near the Boston University Bridge, the spokesperson said local services organizations based in Boston were notified about four weeks in advance of the cleanup with a request from DCR to increase outreach before and during the removal, the spokesperson said.
