City Approves Halfway House

Despite complaints from neighbors, the Cambridge Board of Zoning Appeal last week approved the conversion of a West Cambridge house into a halfway house for mentally ill patients.

The Board voted 4-1 on October 14 to permit the Cambridge and Somerville Cooperative Apartment Project (CASCAP) to set up and operate the residence at 98-100 Aberdeen Ave., located four blocks from the wealthy Brattle St. area.

The decision was made after several summer and spring meetings, when Aberdeen Ave. residents, citing potential disturbances from the patients and fears for personal security, told board members they opposed the plan for the halfway house, which will house eight mentally ill Cambridge natives over the age of 25.

City Council member David E. Sullivan yesterday said the Aberdeen residents' fears are misplaced. "There are good reasons for believing the house won't be a problem, but an asset," he said, explaining that Cambridge's only halfway house, located on Lee Street, has "significantly improved in external appearance" since CASCAP took it over. "It is necessary for the city as a whole to take responsibility for mentaly ill people. It should fall on all the neighborhoods," said Sullivan.

Quiet Neighborhood

Sullivan also emphasized that there will be "safeguards" at the halfway house, such as round-the-clock staff members on duty. He said the house on Lee Street has an excellent reputation and won an award for its well-kept appearance."

Executive Director of CASCAP Michael Haran said although he does not dismiss the concerns and fears of the Aberdeen residents, CASCAP has never had a complaint filed against it.

He said prospective patients for the Aberdeen halfway house will be carefully screened and required to be in a structured program five days each week.

Ungrounded

But City Council member Sheila T. Russell said the Aberdeen residents' fears are not ungrounded. Some of the patients "might act unexpectedly," she said, adding that a fire caused by the carelessness of mentally ill patients in a Boston residence destroyed several houses nearby.

Russell said that although there is a need for a halfway house, she is opposed to the plan for one on Aberdeen because of its location.

She said that unlike Lee St., Aberdeen Ave. is "old and settled" and its houses are very close together. On Aberdeen, there are many "single women living alone who are afraid of who might end up in the house," Russell said.

Russell suggested building halfway homes on nearby lots. With the nearly half-million dollars needed to buy and renovate the house on Alberdeen, "they could build two or three places and accomplish the same thing," she said.