By: erik farleigh
“As of 2019, homeless encampments were appearing in numbers not seen in almost a century.”[i] As a way of solving this problem, large cities are attempting to close homeless encampments and convince the residents to move off the street.[ii] This process, called “sweeping,” is not only failing to combat homelessness,[iii] but it also does nothing to mitigate the environmental problems that come with chronic homelessness. This needs to change.
Homeless encampments can have significant negative impacts on the environment, such as improperly disposed of hazardous materials, negative impacts on local water supplies and out of control fires.[iv] For example, homeless residents of cities such as San Jose, will often set up camp in local creek beds.[v] The problem with encampments located near waterways is that they often lead to “environmental degradation, such as water contamination from human waste and trash, habitat destruction, and the accumulation of trash and other hazardous materials.”[vi] This problem has grown so severe in California that it led to an environmental lawsuit against the city of San Jose in 2014,[vii] and has led to the threat of EPA sanctions.[viii]
Cities are “cracking down” on homeless encampments by attempting to close them and convince the residents to go to shelters, a process commonly called “sweeping.”[ix] Cities have loosely termed this process, “clearance and closure with support.”[x] The idea is that leading up to the date of an encampment’s closure, local government employees and volunteers will attempt to convince the residents of these encampments to move into temporary shelters until more permanent housing can be found for them.[xi]
The problem with “sweeping” encampments, even with “support,” is that many individuals experiencing homelessness often refuse help.[xii] There are a variety of reasons why people experiencing homelessness choose to refuse help, including fear of crime in shelters, unsanitary conditions in shelters, and stringent rules and requirements for staying the night in homeless shelters.[xiii] “Outreach programs are more successful when workers establish a trusting relationship through continued contact with the people they are trying to help.”[xiv] From a purely analytical perspective, it is hard to see how a government official telling someone they have to either “come with us, or pick-up and move” is conducive to building the “trusting relationship[s]” needed to increase the success of outreach programs.[xv]
Instead of moving into shelters, what often happens after a sweep is that the residents will simply camp somewhere else.[xvi] A consequence of chasing homeless people from “spot to spot to spot,”[xvii] is that the environmental impacts of homelessness (along with the many other problems that come with chronic homelessness) will not be fixed by simply closing encampments. It is time to accept this fact and implement some commonsense policies aside from the oversimplified solution of closing the encampments.
First, state, and local governments must stop “sweeping” some of these encampments. By forcing the residents of encampments to close shop and move somewhere else, the government is forfeiting control over locations of encampment that they otherwise might have if they sanctioned encampments in controlled environments. By sanctioning certain homeless encampments, local governments will have the opportunity to ensure that authorized encampments are not located near environmentally sensitive areas.[xviii] In this, cities throughout the country should follow the example of San Jose, and prioritize clearing encampments in environmentally sensitive areas, such as in and around creeks or riverbeds.[xix]
Second, just because an encampment is not located in a sensitive area, that does not mean that there will not be negative environmental impacts.[xx] There are some simple measures that can be adopted to mitigate the environmental effects of homelessness.[xxi] States and local governments, must supplement the approach of encouraging residents to move into shelters[xxii] by funding improvement of sanitation in and around encampments. The city of Portland, Oregon has recently announced a plan to adopt something like the suggestion discussed above.[xxiii] The city plans to establish three authorized camping sites, which will “provide access to services such as food, hygiene, litter collection and treatment for mental health and substance abuse.”[xxiv]
In closing, homelessness cannot be solved overnight. However, it is possible to adopt some commonsense reforms to mitigate the environmental problems that go hand-in-hand with this humanitarian crisis.
[i] Lauren Dunton et al., Exploring Homelessness Among People Living in Encampments and Associated Cost, U.S. Dep’t. of Hous. & Urb. Dev. (Feb. 2020), https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/Exploring-Homelessness-Among-People.pdf [https://perma.cc/SCZ5-N6GW].
[ii] Id. at 15
[iii] Malcom Harris, Sweeping Homeless Encampments Is Cruel and Unacceptable, The Nation (Apr. 14, 2022), https://www.thenation.com/article/society/homeless-encampments-sweeps-adams/ [https://perma.cc/RF6S-QEWG].
[iv] Sharon Chamard, Homeless Encampments, in U.S. Dept. of Just. Problem-Oriented Guides for Police Problem-Specific Guides Series No. 56, at 6, 8 (2010), https://popcenter.asu.edu/sites/default/files/sites/default/files/problems/pdfs/homeless_encampments.pdf [https://perma.cc/CVV5-VSHU].
[v] Dunton, supra note i, at 9.
[vi] Id.
[vii] Sejal Choski, Baykeeper Announces Intent to Sue San Jose to Stop Pollution of San Francisco Bay, S.F. Baykeeper (Nov. 24, 2014), https://baykeeper.org/press_release/baykeeper-announces-intent-sue-san-jose-stop-pollution-san-francisco-bay [https://perma.cc/EGE5-THL7].
[viii] EPA Administrator Wheeler calls out California’s Environmental Protection Failure, U.S. Env’t. Prot. Agency (Sept. 26, 2019), https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-administrator-wheeler-calls-out-californias-environmental-protection-failure [https://perma.cc/YLA3-A6CT].
[ix] Harris, supra note iii.
[x] Dunton, supra note i, at 15.
[xi] Id.
[xii] Ronald Sullivan, On a Chilly Night in Queens, Homeless Refuse City’s Aid, The N.Y. Times (Oct. 22, 1983), https://www.nytimes.com/1983/10/22/nyregion/on-a-chilly-night-in-queens-homeless-refuse-city-s-aid.html [https://perma.cc/7X6F-GWTX].
[xiii] Ari Shapiro et al., Why Some Homeless Choose the Streets Over Shelters, Nat’l. Pub. Radio (Dec. 6, 2012, 1:00 PM), https://www.npr.org/2012/12/06/166666265/why-some-homeless-choose-the-streets-over-shelters [https://perma.cc/GL4T-8FCP].
[xiv] Mental Illness & Homelessness, Nat’l Coal. for the Homeless, (July 2009), http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/Mental_Illness.pdf [https://perma.cc/ES92-A8YC].
[xv] Id.
[xvi] Nadra Nittle, Surprise homeless sweeps aren’t just disruptive, say activists–they aren’t working, Curbed L.A., https://la.curbed.com/2019/4/25/18516026/homeless-sweeps-encampments-clean-streets (last updated Apr. 26, 2019, 1:54 PM) [https://perma.cc/AA7K-FK6X].
[xvii] Id.
[xviii] Dunton, supra note i, at 18.
[xix] Id.
[xx] Chamard, supra note iv, at 8.
[xxi] Claire Rush, Portland mayor to ban homeless camps on city streets, Mail Trib. (Oct. 22, 2022, at 2:22 PM), https://www.mailtribune.com/happening-now/2022/10/22/portland-mayor-to-ban-homeless-camps-on-streets/ [https://perma.cc/VW63-KJ4H].
[xxii] Dunton, supra note i, at 15.
[xxiii] Rush, supra note xx.
[xxiv] Id.