Two buildings in Mattapan undergoing renovation this month are in the spotlight as the city continues to scramble to find space to house homeless people who were displaced by the abrupt closure of shelter facilities on Long Island in October when Mayor Martin Walsh shut down the bridge to the island after city and state inspectors found it structurally unsafe.

In October, city officials announced that they would retrofit the buildings, which are owned by the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) and set back from River Street near the Foley Senior Residences, to house programs for people recovering from substance abuse, one for men nearing the end of prison sentences, and the other for people who need a short-term residential program.

“Right now the city is renovating two Boston Public Health Commission buildings in Mattapan to serve as a possible replacement for some of the recovery programs,” said Kate Norton, spokesperson for Mayor Martin Walsh in a statement on Tuesday. Also this week, the mayor’s office announced plans to convert a former city transportation building on Southampton Street into a permanent homeless shelter. The building – which will not be ready for occupancy until next spring— will reportedly house as many as 490 people when completed.

The BPHC Building N on River Street, with 74 beds, is expected to open this month at the cost of $91,000. It formerly housed the health commission’s food pantry. The adult day care location next door, expected to offer 20 program beds or 50 emergency beds, will be operational in January 2015, according to the city.

All replacement facilities must be available to the homeless until a new bridge is in place; construction is expected to take a minimum of 36 months.

The situation in Mattapan remains fluid as City Hall and the Health Commission grapple with community members and elected officials alarmed at the prospect of an influx of homeless people into the neighborhood.
State Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry, who represents Mattapan, said she has received an earful from residents unhappy with the decision. She believes the proposal for both emergency and long-term beds in Mattapan is “extreme. It’s too much for Mattapan to handle. In terms of discussion, the Mattapan community absolutely has to be included.”

Said Rodney Bender, a longtime resident of Mattapan who is well-versed with the BPHC facilities: “I don’t know a lot about what’s happening now, but the main issue was lack of information given to the community, the lack of outreach to the residents on the campus as well as the surrounding community. Had the community been properly consulted prior to that, maybe the blowback would be less.”

Assessing safety and protection in and around the BPHC facilities is a key necessity, added Forry, who noted that since the BPHC location was previously used to house treatment facilities, it makes sense that they would be used. “It’s going to be a good conversation with the community but we can’t turn our backs on people who say they want to get clean and get sober,” she said.

Bender echoed the senator’s statement. “We understand the seriousness of addiction and our hearts go out to them,” he told the Reporter on Wednesday. “Let’s not make it us against them. It’s just that question of who’s coming here so we can make an informed decision whether we would support this or not.”

Even before the first public meeting in Mattapan about the city’s plans for the buildings on Dec. 4, there “has been no process,” said Cassandra Cato Lewis, outreach coordinator at the Mattapan Cultural Arts Development. “Between BPHC and the community oversight committee they put in place years ago, it is a completely dysfunctional circle that has left the community outraged. The fact that Roxbury has the autonomy and power over what goes in their community is another indicator of the lack of respect of who we are in our community,” Lewis said. “The insult to injury is that there’s no concession. There’s nothing back to the community.”

Lewis’s reference to Roxbury was about the city’s decision to back away from the plan to lease the Radius hospital site in Roxbury as a residence for the homeless. Sen. Forry noted that that was more a financial decision than a response to neighborhood outrage.

“They were asking an exorbitant amount of money for a lease from the city,” she said. “The whole thing was it wasn’t just the community; a big piece was the money factor.”

As temperatures continue to drop, officials continue to look for a long-term solution for those displaced from Long Island. “If we are going to be successful in finding long-term solutions for the homeless, we need a statewide conversation and response,” Walsh spokesperson Norton said in a statement. “On any given night, of the individuals housed in Boston shelters, we know that approximately 40 percent are not from Boston.”