1949
Shattuck Campus created from Franklin Park
Boston transfers the Shattuck Campus land to the State's Department of Public Health for the creation of a hospital to deal with polio.
A chronological record of events, decisions, and media coverage surrounding the Shattuck Campus redevelopment in Franklin Park.
← Back to DashboardBoston transfers the Shattuck Campus land to the State's Department of Public Health for the creation of a hospital to deal with polio.
Inpatient addiction services are added to the Shattuck Hospital.
City of Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development asks the State for the placement of 100 housing units on the Shattuck Campus. The proposal is quickly changed to low-threshold housing for those with substance use disorder.
The State's Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) gets approval from the State's Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) for 75-100 low-threshold units on the Shattuck Campus.
State officials declare Shattuck Hospital is too expensive to repair. The State purchases the Newton Pavilion from BMC for $200 million to move the non-addiction services provided by the Shattuck Hospital.
EOHHS Secretary Marylou Sudders comes to Jamaica Plain to tell residents they will get 75-100 low-threshold units. People are deeply concerned so EOHHS and DCAMM agree to a lengthy public process.
A community advisory board (CAB) is created to get community input. This board is heavily stacked with opioid services and affordable housing advocates. The majority of people who use the park are from communities of color in Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan, none of which were initially represented.
Three public community meetings are held for the Shattuck proposal. People are left frustrated as the end result remains the same 75-100 units that went into the process at the very beginning.
DCAMM, EOHHS, and other State departments release a vision plan outlining the requested development, supposedly based on community input, but it reflects the exact same plan determined before the public process began.
DCAMM holds a hearing where representatives from Mattapan speak up about being left out of the process—a major oversight as the project sits within Mattapan.
Thirty months after the CAB was formed, and after the final meeting about the Shattuck Vision plan, representatives from Mattapan are finally appointed to the CAB.
The Asset Management Board officially approves the state's vision plan.
Secretary Marylou Sudders abruptly tells the Stonybrook Neighborhood Association and the Franklin Park Coalition that she is placing temporary low-threshold beds on the Shattuck Campus for 6 months.
BPDA approves Pine St Inn's development of the largest low-threshold housing building for those with substance use disorder at 3368 Washington St. (140 people, less than a mile from the Shattuck Campus). Shattuck plans still advance independently despite this massive new capacity.
EOHHS places 24 low-threshold beds in cottages and converts the Pine St Inn shelter to 30 low-threshold beds on the Shattuck Campus. These "temporary" 6-month beds remained long after.
Opioid use, discarded needles, encampments, and drug dealing in the Shattuck area dramatically increase. The community begins extensively tracking and mapping these incidents.
The Request for Proposal is released. Within the same month, the RFP closes, and the only proposal received is from Boston Medical Center (BMC).
Details leak to the press that BMC's single proposal actually contains over 400 units of low-threshold supportive housing, drastically larger than the 75-100 units initially discussed.
Mayor Michelle Wu asks the State for 1,000 units of low-threshold housing outside of Boston to help with the statewide opioid crisis. Secretary Sudders deflects via letter, and the request is dropped.
BMC expands to include four more ACOs, becoming the largest to serve the Medicaid and MassHealth population. This drastically increases their potential patient pipeline for the proposed facility.
The Coalition for Region-wide Services – Beyond Franklin Park (CORES) forms to organize residents from all surrounding communities to push back against the massive BMC proposal.
Kate Walsh, the CEO of BMC who signed and submitted the Shattuck proposal, is appointed to lead the State's EOHHS—the very agency overseeing the proposal's approval.
DCAMM and EOHHS give BMC provisional designation to advance their project, almost exactly a year after submitting.
The community obtains the full proposal via FOIA. It includes 525 housing-first residential beds without sobriety requirements and 326 treatment beds. It is the largest, most concentrated facility of its kind in North America.
Franklin Park Coalition, Garrison-Trotter Neighborhood Association, Emerald Necklace Conservancy, and local residents write letters to the editor in the Boston Globe opposing the proposal.
BMC hosts a Zoom meeting, taking questions out of order and allegedly selecting known supporters. Pushback continues to mount.
Jim O'Connell, President of BHCC (part of the BMC-led coalition), comes out with concerns about the scale. The leader at the Dimock Center also opposes the massive plan.
BMC holds an open house at Lena Park while major protests occur outside.
Community leaders meet with State Auditor Diana DiZoglio about the Shattuck Proposal. She expresses concerns about the process and notes it merits a review.
Police receive multiple reports of widespread car window break-ins in Jamaica Plain. In December, precinct E13 officers arrest a suspect caught in the act who is allegedly linked to the Shattuck Campus facility.
Facing unyielding community pressure, the State publicly concedes that BMC's proposal is far too large and costly. Negotiations restart behind closed doors without abutting park communities.
The massive 850+ person opioid use disorder campus proposal is officially shelved. The local communities' intense advocacy prevented an unmanageable concentration of services from overwhelming Franklin Park.