Cities push homeless to live in ‘authorized’ camps
WASHINGTON — As COVID-19 swept across the United States, 63-year-old Elisheyah Denise McKinley lost her home in Phoenix, Arizona, and was told her only option was to put up a tent in a parking lot.
The camp allowed people to pitch tents on two car parks with access to handwashing areas and toilets, but had few other facilities and became searingly hot as the asphalt baked in temperatures of more than 44 C.
“The ground was so hot, I had to wear combat boots. And there were ants everywhere,” said McKinley, adding that several camp residents had died.
Maricopa County recorded five deaths at the lots over 12 months, four of which were drug-related, said Fields Moseley, communications director for the county.
Alarmed by the deaths, McKinley started looking in on those nearby her and check if they needed water.
“I started a neighbor check in the mornings,” she said.
McKinley is among those affected by what has been described as a “crisis of unsheltered homelessness” by the US Interagency Council on Homelessness, which coordinates 19 federal agencies.
The number of people sleeping on the streets climbed to an estimated 226,000 in 2020, a rise of more than 50,000 in five years, the US Department
of Housing and Urban Development said.
Some authorities are setting up legally authorized, “sanctioned” encampments, with supporters saying they are safer than the streets and critics saying they are part of a push to criminalize homelessness.
“They’re being set up as a way to corral, segregate and control unhoused people and concentrate them into a single area, so enforcement can occur outside of that area,” said Tristia Bauman, senior attorney with the National Homelessness Law Center, or NHLC.
Bans imposed
At the same time, a growing number of cities are imposing bans on camping in public, which are used to authorize police “sweeps” to move in on homeless people that often destroy their property, the NHLC said.
A new state law in Missouri, versions of which are being debated in Arizona and elsewhere, would help cities set up authorized camps while barring public sleeping or camping on state land outside those areas.
Penalties would include a fine of up to $5,000 and a month in jail, according to an analysis by public policy nonprofit The Pew Charitable Trusts.
For some, sanctioned encampments can offer a haven.
In Washington State, Camp United We Stand has been in existence since 2015 after the city of Shoreline passed an ordinance allowing encampments to be hosted by local churches for limited periods.
The self-governing camp, capped at 35 residents, charges $1 a day and includes water, toilets, electricity, garbage service, security, heat in the winter, a kitchen tent and more, said Beverly Hawkins, president of the camp’s board.
“Sanctioned encampments provide a stable, secure place to come back to,” said Hawkins.
Many street sleepers would rather have the choice of using official camps, said Jordan Steelman, who works with the anti-homelessness group Love Huntsville in Alabama.
The city has shut down seven unofficial encampments over the past year, even as homelessness numbers have risen, he said.
“What we’ve been asking for is simply allowing people to camp safely ... without being harassed by law enforcement,” said Tia Turner, president of Love Huntsville.
The city of Huntsville did not respond to requests for comment.