Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn says that Boston's rat population is surging due to the displacement of homeless and drug-addicted individuals from the former Mass and Cass encampment, who are now scattering trash and using makeshift grills that attract rodents in surrounding neighborhoods.

Flynn, along with Boston Police and the Wu administration's response team, conducted a public safety assessment Friday, July 18, following resident complaints about increasing rat infestations.

Neighbors and businesses say the problems have escalated since the city removed the Atkinson Street encampment in late 2023. Displaced individuals are creating conditions that attract rats by rummaging through garbage bags and leaving trash scattered on sidewalks, as well as using homemade grills that leave behind food waste.

"One woman talked at length about a homeless person constantly opening her garbage and throwing it on the sidewalk and on the street, and seeing huge rats as well," Flynn told the Boston Herald.

Steve Fox, chair of the South End forum, described more destructive behavior, telling the Boston Herald: "What we have seen at Mass and Cass is a willingness on the part of people who are just willing to rip the trash apart for no apparent reason, not looking for returnables, but to just seemingly cause destruction."

Flynn filed an ordinance with the City Council last week pushing for the city to create a standalone pest control office led by a "rat czar," citing a Tufts University study showing Boston rats are spreading leptospirosis, a potentially deadly bacterial disease.