Phoenix reveals how long it wants to clear 'The Zone' in second day of homelessness trial

Phoenix has agreed to clear “The Zone,” the city’s largest homeless encampment. But how much time should it take to do it?

That question was central to a trial over Phoenix’s largest homeless encampment, “The Zone,” which ended on Tuesday after a second packed day of witness testimony.

The state court lawsuit, Brown v. City of Phoenix, was filed in August by residents and business owners who say the sprawling downtown encampment is a public nuisance and that the city has allowed it to occur. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney, who is presiding over the case, ordered the city in March to begin clearing out the encampment but has not set a deadline for when the task must be completed.

Phoenix plans to finish clearing out The Zone over the next nine months, according to city officials.

“Let the city keep doing this good thing without the burden of further court action,” said Justin Pierce, an attorney representing Phoenix.

But the plaintiffs’ attorneys asked the court to set a much sooner deadline — by the end of the summer — and to hold the city to it.

“Why should our clients suffer for another nine months while the city gets around to it?” said Stephen Tully, an attorney for the plaintiffs.

Deputy City Manager Gina Montes said that expedited timeline is “not feasible or realistic” while also complying with a federal court order in a separate lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona over the city’s treatment of unhoused people. That court order, issued in December, prohibits the city from enforcing camping and sleeping bans as long as there are more unsheltered people in Phoenix than there are available shelter beds. It also set guidelines for how Phoenix can conduct cleanups of The Zone, such as requiring the city to provide advanced notice of the cleanup and to store unattended property for at least 30 days.

A key point of tension in Brown v. City of Phoenix has been differing interpretations of Martin v. Boise, a landmark 2018 decision from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that established cities cannot criminally cite unhoused people for sleeping outside on public property when there is no adequate and available alternative, such as open shelter beds. Since that decision, Western cities have struggled to determine how to reduce street homelessness without violating the law.

“It's created an era of uncertainty,” said Sheila Harris, founding director of the Arizona Department of Housing and an expert witness for the city, of Martin v. Boise. “I think that’s probably why we’re here today, is to try and clarify, what is that?”

Brown v. City of Phoenix has two potential primary outcomes, said Ilan Wurman, an attorney for the plaintiffs. Blaney could rule in favor of the plaintiffs and make his court order requiring the city to clear out the encampment permanent, possibly even setting a hard deadline for completion, or he could rule in favor of the city and walk the court order back.

Blaney ordered the parties to file additional documents by Aug. 11. He said he would rule shortly thereafter.

“This is a difficult case with difficult issues, and the court has a very difficult decision to make,” he said.

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Juliette Rihl covers housing insecurity and homelessness for The Arizona Republic. She can be reached at jrihl@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter @julietterihl.

Coverage of housing insecurity on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Arizona Community Foundation.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix reveals how long it wants to clear 'The Zone' homeless camp