ACLU sends the city an ultimatum to postpone next week's homeless eviction

Roberta Baker, The New Hampshire Union Leader, Manchester
·3 min read
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Jan. 12—MANCHESTER — The American Civil Liberties Union and six human rights, social justice and legal defense organizations are urging the city to delay evicting residents of the city's homeless encampment on Manchester Street — which is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 17 — until a safe and stable place to move them can be secured.

"Given the absence of permanent and sustainable housing resources for unhoused individuals, this planned eviction would only further ostracize, stigmatize, and endanger the safety of this marginalized community — especially in one of the coldest months of the year," Gilles Bissonette, legal director of the ACLU of New Hampshire, stated by email. "Because there is no plan to immediately house and relocate these individuals in a sustainable and humane way, we hope that the City of Manchester will postpone this eviction until those critical needs are met."

The ACLU's lengthy letter on Jan. 12 to the city, signed by representatives from New Hampshire Legal Assistance, National Homelessness Law Center, Rights & Democracy N.H., N.H. Harm Reduction Coalition, American Friends Service Committee, Granite State Organizing Project and Dam Wright, a homeless advocate, requested a commitment from the city by Friday, at 10 a.m. that it will put off dismantling the encampment. This will give the ACLU time to "seek judicial relief if appropriate," the letter states.

The ACLU letter is currently under review by the city's solicitor, Emily Rice, said Fire Chief Ryan Cashin, Manchester's head of emergency management.

"We're still working on analyzing it," Rice said Thursday.

No comment was received Thursday from Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig.

At least 50 individuals are currently living in tents near the corner of Manchester and Pine Streets, according to recent estimates.

The growing 'tent city' has been a source of concern for homeless advocates, city officials and unsheltered people who have not found available beds in existing shelters on any regular or dependable basis.

According to the ACLU, the proposed eviction — which could take place any time after midnight on Tuesday — may be unlawful, in violation of codes that require homeless people to be moved to homeless shelters.

The city's cold-weather, emergency overnight housing at the Cashin Senior Activities Center may not meet the legal definition, according to the ACLU. The letter also alleges that the hasty uprooting of folks who have no definite, round-the-clock destination is inhumane.

"Given the absence of such a plan to immediately house and relocate these individuals in a sustainable and humane way, we hope that the city will postpone this eviction — an eviction that will only perpetuate a costly cycle of 'chasing' the houseless from place to place, and will only further ostracize, stigmatize and endanger the safety of this community," the letter states.

The use of the Cashin Senior Activities Center as an emergency overnight shelter, which opened last week and is available from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m., is not a viable substitute for something lasting, that can be available 24 hours a day, according to homeless advocates.