BOSTON – This week, Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn, Councilor At-Large Erin Murphy, and Councilor John FitzGerald filed a resolution in support of prioritizing a recovery campus for the City of Boston and Greater Boston area. This follows a resolution last week in opposition to safe injection sites in the City of Boston, which was only supported by the original co-sponsors – Councilors Flynn, Murphy, and FitzGerald. However, at today’s meeting, the Boston City Council voted unanimously in support of prioritizing a recovery campus and treatment-first approach to address underlying mental and behavioral health issues to help break the cycle of addiction.

Recent reports indicate that rebuilding the Long Island Bridge and an addiction recovery center is still a long-term plan that will potentially take years or decades, and conservatively cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Continued and protracted legal battles have left residents wondering when, if ever, that a recovery campus will open on Long Island once again, and what will become of Mass & Cass in the meantime.

In the FY 2026-2030 Capital Plan, $108,758,144 is reserved to construct a new bridge to Long Island, $8,220,000 is set aside to repair and upkeep buildings that may be utilized for a recovery campus, and an additional $2,000,000 to renovate existing buildings. However, previous estimates pegged repairs at more than $550 million, while recent reports are now over $1 billion due to inflation, tariffs, and increased construction costs since that time.

On September 4th, the City Council held a hearing on-site at the Hampton Inn, where approximately 200 constituents shared their lived experiences on public safety, public health, and quality of life issues due to the Mass & Cass crisis. These included public drug dealing, public drug use, human trafficking, violence, public urination and defecation, and shoplifting. A number of residents shared that beyond these unacceptable and existing conditions, concerns on public safety have increased significantly due to a series of recent break-ins and people sleeping in resident’s homes and cars, or trespassing in backyards.

At that time, the overwhelming majority of the public testimony from neighbors, small businesses, and nonprofit partners emphasized the need for the city and state to make a recovery campus a top priority for the City of Boston and Greater Boston area, and a treatment-first approach.

“With deteriorating conditions due to the Mass & Cass crisis, and continued uncertainty regarding the status, timeline, and feasibility of Long Island – it is critical that the city and state work collaboratively to take concrete steps that would allow for a recovery campus to be built for the City of Boston and Greater Boston area – not only to provide necessary treatment programs for our most vulnerable, but to address the public safety, public health, and quality of life of neighbors, small businesses, and nonprofit partners,” said City Councilor Ed Flynn.

“It was great to have unanimous support of the Boston City Council to support a recovery campus, with the intention of  filling the gaps in the continuum of care for those struggling with addiction, as this is an issue that impacts the entire city,” said City Councilor John FitzGerald.

“With the steep costs and lengthy timelines ahead, we cannot afford delay in creating a recovery campus. Today’s unanimous City Council vote marks a long-overdue acknowledgment that Boston and Greater Boston desperately need a dedicated space for healing. As a lead sponsor, I am happy all of my colleagues signed on in support of this treatment-first vision. Our city must turn rhetoric into reality,” said Councilor At-Large Erin Murphy.

For more information, please contact Councilor Flynn’s office at 617-635-3203 or [email protected].

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