There is finally some official action happening this week to address the public health and safety disaster that’s been worsening in the Newmarket-Melnea Cass area of the city, which has been tagged “Mass and Cass.”

Last week, acting Mayor Janey ordered that a tent encampment that has been radiating out along Southampton Street be removed, with alternate shelter and storage bins on offer to the men and women living in them. By some counts, more than 150 tents were staked out in recent weeks and days. And without some form of action to disrupt its proliferation, Janey and others rightfully fear a spiraling problem that will be even more perilous as winter weather takes hold in a few scarce weeks.

“She should’ve done it months ago,” City Councillor Michael Flaherty said when asked about Janey’s order in a forum last Thursday in Cedar Grove.

When it comes to the tragic circumstances that have proliferated in this section of the city for several years now, it’s hard to disagree with the sentiment that official action has been far too slow— and that’s not just one individual’s fault. There seems to have been a general sense of paralysis among officials when confronted with how to approach this crisis, which is far more than just a routine public health matter. It’s a humanitarian disaster on our front door.

It’s been refreshing, then, to see a plan advanced by Sherriff Steve Tompkins advancing with more political backing in recent days. Frustrated by a lack of action from other quarters, Tompkins has ordered that a section of the South Bay facility he controls be converted into a space that can temporarily house as many as 100 people displaced from Mass & Cass. It will include a courtroom and addiction treatment facility, but Tompkins insists it’s not a jail. “It’s more like a college dorm with a breakout room for programming and smaller rooms where people can have individualized counseling,” Tompkins told WBUR this week. “We have no choice. I refuse to walk out of here and see somebody dead, and I don’t want that on our doorstop. I’m not having it.”

Tompkins says he hopes to have the facility ready to accept people voluntarily by Thanksgiving. This week, the plan got some positive reinforcement from Gov. Baker, who told ‘GBH radio that his administration has been working with Tompkins to support the project, while stressing that it’s just one tool for addressing the wider problem. Suffolk County DA Rachael Rollins is also backing Tompkins plan publicly, telling WBUR’s Radio Boston that while she doesn’t love the location, she sees it as the only viable alternative right now. “We are dealing with the most medically compromised population that you can imagine and we need specialists,” Rollins said. “We have been in meetings about this for weeks and we are going to make sure that whatever is proposed is lawful.”

In a few weeks time— by Nov. 16, in fact— there will be a new mayor in place in Boston City Hall. She will need to take on Mass & Cass with the sort of urgency that befits a crisis of this magnitude. And, she’ll need to make the case — as both mayoral candidates have stated on the campaign trail— that our neighbors throughout the region must step up as well. Boston will not be able to permanently “fix” the problem without a regional approach. In the meantime, we salute Sheriff Tompkins for stepping up to the plate.