Editorial: Lowell Replaces Homeless Talk with Action Plan

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Police in Lowell, Mass., have cleared out a homeless encampment that had stood on city property for more than a year.

The Boston Globe reports 25 people were removed from the half-acre site in Centralville on Monday as part of a series of sweeps carried out earlier this year.

Assistant City Manager Shawn Machado says two illegal guns and fentanyl were seized during a June 16 police search of the camp, which was located just 100 feet from a state-owned bridge.

A Health and Human Services Department worker says he disposed of 140 hypodermic needles during the sweep, which was carried out with help from the Massachusetts State Police and the Lowell Police Department's Gang Task Force.

Machado tells the Lowell Sun that the camp had become a public health and safety issue.

"There was a fentanyl bust and guns that triggered all this," he says.

"We're trying to do things differently," says Lowell City Manager Tom Golden, who admits that finding a solution to the city's homeless problem has been a challenge.

The Sun notes that of Lowell's 253 adult homeless people, 96 don't have shelter.

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