As one encampment is cleared, some living in Charlotte tent camp say more help needed
As the clock ticked toward 5 p.m. Friday, the lot near the intersection of Poplar and 12th streets just outside uptown Charlotte was quiet.
What was once a popular homeless encampment was now nearly empty. All that remained were several tents, furniture, debris and other abandoned possessions.
Charlotte-based electrical contractor WB Moore had notified Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police of its intention to enforce no trespassing orders on land it owns, which had become home to several dozen people. It was the latest legal challenge to relocate an increasingly visible homeless community in tent encampments.
People left voluntarily, said CMPD Captain Brad Koch on Friday evening, aided by community groups and fellow tent campers to find shelter elsewhere.
But homeless advocates and people staying in the camps say the individual removal action represents a small piece of an ongoing housing crisis that is often interconnected with mental illness, addiction and other barriers that make it more difficult than just affording rent, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“A lot of people equate the tent community to an emergency room,” said Randall Hitt, chief engagement officer of Roof Above, the new name for the merged Men’s Shelter of Charlotte and Urban Ministry Center.
“We’re seeing the crisis... (and say) ‘What’s the immediate solution in an emergency room?’” he said. “But in some cases, maybe there is some kind of ongoing problem that could have caused them not to hit the emergency room. And that’s how we have to deal with housing at some level.”
A growing crisis
The tent encampments around the area of 12th and College Street have grown in recent months, though unsheltered homelessness is not new in Charlotte.
More than 100 tents are set up in the area near Roof Above’s Day Center, formerly known as the Urban Ministry Center. They’ve sparked controversy with some private landowners where people have set up camp, including the approximately 30 people told to leave by Friday evening.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made homelessness in Charlotte a more visible human crisis, but one that long predates the virus.
It has, however, made traditional models for caring for homeless residents — including congregate living, meals, and programs — more challenging. Shelters aren’t using the overflow sleeping mats they typically do during extreme weather to avoid overcrowding and the risk of spreading the virus.
Anthony Trotman, an assistant county manager, recently told Mecklenburg commissioners that Roof Above and the Salvation Army Center of Hope together have temporarily eliminated more than 100 bed spaces to avoid overcrowding.
In response, the city and county are funding long-stay hotel rooms for some homeless families with federal relief money.
But there also has been an increase of tents near the day service center. The tents wind around the areas of 12th and College streets near uptown, mostly on public land but also privately owned lots like those owned by WB Moore.
Liz Clasen-Kelly, CEO of Roof Above, told Mecklenburg County commissioners people are sticking closer to the center, where critical resources like showers, meals and mail services are located, to reduce moving around the city.
Early in the pandemic the shelter had given out tents as an alternative to congregate settings like shelters where health experts worried COVID-19 could spread easily.
Soon, the number of tents outside uptown grew, as did the frustrations of private landowners.
Health guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say cities should not clear encampments during the pandemic. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police has said officers will not remove camps unless private property owners file trespassing complaints like WB Moore did.
Earlier this week Captain Koch said public health guidelines do not supersede state law or personal property rights, and CMPD has a responsibility to assist owners with removing the people trespassing on the property.
WB Moore has previously said the company is beginning construction there, and had been working with the city’s code enforcement and Roof Above, but could not move forward without removing the camp.
On Friday, Dave Clewley, senior risk control director for WB Moore, said he was grateful for the help from Roof Above and CMPD to relocate people without confrontation and hopes homelessness gets more attention in Charlotte.
Hitt, of Roof Above, said they have sent an outreach team daily to connect people to shelter or other resources. He said there are between 20 and 30 people who have been camping there consistently in recent months, with more staying there temporarily. Six people entered the men’s shelter, while others have dispersed to camps elsewhere, Hitt said.
People at that camp on Wednesday told The Observer that that number had grown at times to roughly 90 people, but many had already cleared out when people started receiving letters announcing the deadline to leave.
’Easy for people to say things when they’re on the outside’
James Eastman wiped his brow under the late Wednesday afternoon sun as he finished moving his tent and belongings to another site. He lamented having to take a day off of work from his landscaping job, but said he needed to get organized and relocated before the deadline.
He’s been homeless and camping on and off for about 15 years, he said, most recently beginning again three years ago when he lost his apartment while caring for his sick grandmother.
Now, he said the cost of living in Charlotte and lack of affordable housing makes it nearly impossible to get into a more stable situation.
“You can’t be stable out here, to try to keep a job and do what you do, it just don’t work,” Eastman, 52, said. “You’re not getting adequate sleep because you feel like you have to stay up half the night .... It’s easy for people to say things when they’re on the outside.”
Anthony Martin, 59, hadn’t relocated his tent yet Wednesday afternoon but he planned to before police came, though he said it wasn’t right to move camps during the pandemic.
He sat outside his tent with a glass angel hanging above the entrance, surrounded by a cooler, food and a pair of thick-soled work shoes. A volunteer from a grassroots group came around to offer boxes or other supplies to pack up.
He said there the city “has plenty of land” to leave people to live in peace.
By Friday evening, his spot was cleared.
More legal challenges
The Friday deadline is just one of several recent legal challenges that will potentially displace members of the tent encampments.
A lawsuit filed July 27 outlines a dispute between owners of two properties where people have put up tents. The plaintiffs, Samar and Ahmad Ismaiel, who own the vacant lot at 900 N. College St., are suing the owners of two nearby properties, both of which have had tents on them, to compel them to oust the campers.
The suit alleges the other property owners on the 900 block of College “encouraged the creation of the homeless encampment, with no regard for how it would affect the Plaintiff or other owners” and the value of her property has been “reduced significantly.”
Ismaiel in the suit alleges the camp is filled with trash and debris, and that there have been numerous reported crimes nearby. Attempts to reach representatives of the defendants, Morningstar Storage and WorldCom Network Services, which own property near that owned by Ismaiel, were unsuccessful.
R. Lee Robertson, Jr., attorney for the plaintiff, said his client regrets having to file a suit but hopes the action will compel the city to take more meaningful action to provide housing for those in the camps.
Robertson said a buyer interested in the property has pulled out, and put responsibility on the city to address the needs of the people in the camps.
“The city has no plan to provide safe, sanitary housing for homeless people at all and as a result, it’s fallen on these private property owners,” he said. “They’re having to let these people stay there, because there’s nowhere else to go, and as a result (it) has created a problem for my client.”
Mayor Vi Lyles
Mayor Vi Lyles wrote in a post online late Friday afternoon that she was asking Mecklenburg County, as the lead homeless services provider for the area, to convene homeless experts and service providers “to identify ways in which we can continue to work together to serve this vulnerable population during these historic times.”
She pointed to several recent city allocations for homelessness, including $3.4 million Charlotte City Council on Monday approved from federal COVID-19 relief. Pam Wideman, the city’s housing director, said it will be used for people in unsheltered homelessness, including those in the tent encampments near uptown and elsewhere in the city, as well as to move people from hotels into permanent housing.
County Manager Dena Diorio responded with a statement when asked if the county planned to convene such a group: “This is the first we are hearing about this idea. We are glad to discuss it with our partner agencies, look at all the potential solutions, and determine the best path forward to address the homeless issue.”
This story was originally published August 14, 2020 at 2:32 PM.
%20Cropped.jpg)