Providence disbands tent encampment as temperatures hover in the teens

PROVIDENCE — With temperatures in the teens Friday morning, city workers disassembled the makeshift encampment of about 10 people making a slice of land near Randall Square home.

Gavin Wade Finnerty said Providence police had warned the group days earlier that they’d have to relocate their tents or face eviction. City public works crews and police moved in with a trash truck Friday to disband the settlement as temperatures hovered in the high teens.

“This place just got blown up. Everybody just ran,” Finnerty said.

He shared a tent with his girlfriend, who he said kept him warm. They planned to move to an undisclosed location on the East Side.

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Finnerty, 53, said he was released from the Adult Correctional Institutions last month and has pending charges that limit his housing options.

The eviction “was kind of fair,” said Christopher Hughes, 31, who has lacked housing on and off for the last three years.

Where is he headed next?

“We have no place to go,” said Hughes, leaning on his bicycle.

Patrick, who declined to give his last name, said he’d been on a list for housing for years, with no movement.

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“There should be a spot where we can put up our tents. They have dog parks,” said Patrick.

Advocates for the state's homeless population have pushed unsuccessfully for a safe space near a bus line for people who lack housing to set up camp.

Lindsay Lague, spokeswoman for the city's Department of Public Safety, said police received complaints in recent weeks about the encampment forming on Randall Street.

"It has become a public safety concern for the occupants of the encampment to remain on the premises as the temperatures have recently plummeted," Lague said.

The police worked with social service agencies to offer temporary shelter to the people living there and social workers visited the site to provide connections to resources and offer assistance, Lague said. Some people vacated the site and others were advised by police on Wednesday to evacuate within 24 hours.

"This morning, Providence police officers and city DPW employees worked to remove trash and debris from the site. Individuals on site collected all personal belongings of value and remaining debris on site was thrown away. Nothing of significant value was discarded or seized," Lague said.

Hughes pointed to a collection of his belongings piled near a fence, saying they were told they had until 3 p.m. to take them away or they would be removed. Backpacks, propane tanks and blankets remained by the roadway around noon.

The group said the number of people without housing had increased during the pandemic, particularly after unemployment benefits ended for some. Many are seeking refuge along the banks of the Moshassuck River, which flows past the site, they said.

"It's the underground railroad," Hughes said of the waterway, which cuts through Providence.

He and others expressed a reluctance to go to a shelter for fear of being exposed to COVID-19 and people with criminal backgrounds.

"I'd rather be on the streets," Patrick said.

Some of the people who had been camping were offered hotel stays, the group said, but others were still waiting to be placed in a hotel.

According to the Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness, 362 Rhode Islanders were without shelter on any given night in the last few weeks, with 1,168 people on waiting lists for shelter beds. The shelters remain at 97% capacity.

Laura Jaworski, executive director of the House of Hope Community Development Corporation, noted that the city's move came during a bitter cold spell after the encampment had been located at the site for months

Clearing an encampment might fulfill a short-term need, such as cleaning up an unsanitary condition, but, in fact, it's perpetuating a bigger problem, Jaworski said.

"This doesn't get us at all to what we should be focused on and that's ending homelessness. It's treating people like trash and there's no dignity in that," Jaworski said.

The removal got the attention of local political leaders.

"Just found out from a constituent that a little over an hour ago a homeless encampment in my district was dismantled by police (PPD?) and their things put into a trash compactor," state Sen. Tiara Mack, D-Providence, said in a Twitter post.

"This city needs to reckon with its war on the unhoused and the poor," she continued. She later updated that she had been told people's belongings had been taken to a public works site and could be collected.

"These are difficult situations that we have faced a number of times in the the past and the city remains committed to ensuring that individuals are connected to the appropriate resources necessary," Lague said in an email.

"Going forward the city will continue to expand services for members of our community effected by unfortunate circumstances, including homelessness."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Providence disbands Randall Square homeless tent encampment