Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Tompkins tackle his efforts to address the ongoing problems in the ‘Mass. and Cass’ district during a virtual meeting of the Greater Mattapan Neighborhood Council (GMNC) on Monday evening.

Tompkins was originally scheduled to speak to the group in early November about his plan to use vacant space in the South Bay jail as transitional housing during the winter until a full plan could be executed. He acknowledged this week that his plan was not well received.

“The city and others pushed back pretty hard, and we don’t have anyone housed with us at the facility,” Tompkins said. “We weren’t trying to arrest our way out of the problem or criminalize individuals…We were trying to be part of the solution and help people get off the streets and re-connected with their families.”

Tompkins is supportive of a new plan under Mayor Wu aimed at disrupting the encampments in the Newmarket Square area. A meeting convened by the Boston Foundation, which has pledged to be a major partner in solving the problem, focused on getting low-threshold supportive housing in areas all over Boston for 200 or more people now living in tents, he said.

“The Boston Foundation has committed to being a real serious partner with their resources with people or utilizing the funding they have in their coffers,” Tomkins said while also noting that more than 60 percent of people now living outside on Mass. and Cass are not from Massachusetts, but rather from nearby states, like New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.

“We were told that entities in those states have said to go to Boston where they have a plethora of methadone clinics — and we do,” Tompkins said. “People have been told to come to Boston.”

Concerns about the potential migration of encampments into neighborhoods like Mattapan and Dorchester was part of the discussion on Monday night.

State Rep. Russell Holmes said the shelter at Franklin Park along Blue Hill Avenue has seen an ongoing encampment for about a year. “We need to make sure that historic shelter in front of the Zoo is paid attention to,” he said.

Others said they have seen people living under the bridge at River Street, as well as in parts of Dorchester like Fields Corner, Uphams Corner, and Ashmont.

Sonya Harris, a Mattapan resident, said she and other neighbors have noticed “more homeless people and more mentally challenged individuals in the Square. We need to be vigilant and make sure we don’t create habitats for them to come here,” she said.

“And that will happen,” responded Tompkins as he appealed for Mattapan residents to relentlessly contact their state and city representatives to fund the solutions being presented.