Officials are making strides on policy, but authorities are still sweeping camps
By now the homeless and housing emergency recognized up and down the West Coast has been well documented, with lawmakers and organizations rallying to push major improvements to our homeless programs and housing market.
The first-ever West Coast Mayors Summit wrapped up in Portland with an alliance to end homelessness for the tens of thousands of residents who live on the streets among our fair cities. That includes holding federal lawmakers accountable for directing sorely needed resources to local communities struggling with a national issue. Sharing best practices, speaking with a unified voice to Washington, D.C., and trying new approaches are all promising first steps to better solutions. Street Roots is wholeheartedly supportive of this concerted effort.
On the streets, however, all of that looks a very long way off. On the streets it is cold, wet and alienating. On the streets, authorities are still sweeping people from camps.
These are two worlds, joined simply by their desire to make it stop, in a sea of mixed messages.
On one hand, the city has been working productively with both Right 2 Dream Too, now more than 4 years old and close to securing its own property, and Hazelnut Grove, a homeless encampment creating its own civility near North Greeley Avenue. Both locations have been essentially sanctioned by the city. Meanwhile other camps – and there are many – are targeted for removal by sheriff’s deputies, neighborhood associations and private interests. In this time of homeless emergencies and calls for bold action, the streets are subjected to the same disruption and displacement we’ve seen ad nauseam. It promotes suffering and estrangement on an individual basis, and sets successful camps up for failure under the crush of newly displaced arrivals.
County officers have been clearing out camps from under bridges, using the prison inmate crew to do the job. (Somewhere in that misguided arrangement, there’s a commentary on preserving a seamless line between the poor and the persecuted.)
And just last week, city employees cleaned the sidewalks around the St. Francis Dining Hall, a haven among the homeless community for providing security, rest and regular meals. To the city’s credit, this was not billed as an official sweep, in that it barred people from returning. It was a routine cleaning, requiring no formal notice and people were allowed to return. However, doing such an action, on short notice, in the middle of a string of heavy rains, is rotten timing. When the health and welfare of people is hanging in the balance, the system has to bend toward common sense.
The city is working to streamline its system among bureaus to create a consistent response that all parties – including people who are experiencing homelessness – understand. That means police, park rangers, security officers and other enforcers are on the same page. The city has also pledged not to conduct formal sweeps of camps when it cannot, with any confidence, tell people where they can go. These are beneficial steps, but the city is only one of many players in this process, and it will take the larger community to get on board. Whether it’s in East County or the city’s central core, we cannot successfully get people off the streets while continuing to push them to the edge.
Policy and practices are one thing; compassion is something else entirely. It will take both to move closer to a solution.
