City permanently clearing out homeless camp under I-71 overpass

The city of Cincinnati is clearing out the homeless camp under the overpass near the intersection of Third and Plum streets, this time for good.

On Monday, officials from the health department and city arrived at the Downtown homeless camp and hung up notices telling residents they need to leave. The notice said the area will be closed for cleaning on Friday.

"Please vacate the area and take all personal belongings with you. Any items remaining will be considered abandoned," the notice said.

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It also lists contacts for housing and other services.

Starting Friday, the area will be cleared and sanitized. The current plan calls for the Department of Public Services to put up a fence. A long-term solution to keep people from resettling the area may include fencing, lighting and other landscaping material.

Cincinnati Police Captain Michael Neville said there are approximately 40 people living in the encampment.

"This is the first step to ensure that homelessness is humanized, not criminalized," Neville said.

Officials brought bottles of water and food, as well as a mobile health clinic that will allow people to have physicals. Representatives will be at the camp helping connect people to housing and health services, Neville said.

The goal is to move people into emergency housing, then to more permanent solutions, but police and health officials know that might not work for everyone.

"We know there's going to be an influx to Third Street," Neville said.

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More: Acting city manager seeks solutions regarding Third Street homeless camp

More: Cincinnati kicked the homeless and their stuff out of this camp. But only to clean it.

A memo from Acting City Manager Patrick Duhaney to the mayor and city council outlined the plan that started Monday.

“The camp… raises health and safety issues for the persons occupying the camp and other members of the public," Duhaney said. “Keep in mind that this is just the first step toward tackling a complex issue that will not be solved overnight."

Here’s the process outlined by Duhaney:

Step 1: Notify residents that they need to leave within 72 hours and connect them with temporary housing options.

Step 2: The Department of Public Services will clear, clean and sanitize the area.

Step 3: City will temporarily cordon the area to “prevent reestablishment;" This will likely include fencing.

Step 4: Find a temporary housing solution, then long-term housing. The city is working with Strategies to End Homelessness, PATH, Shelterhouse and Prince of Peace.

Plan is no surprise to advocates

Sam Landis, co-founder of Maslow’s Army, said he’s not surprised by the city’s actions.

“This is the city’s pattern. They don’t like it to be in the public’s eye. It’s not attractive,” he said. “You have to look at it from the view of the people out there.”

People experiencing homelessness want to sleep in a lighted, public area that feels safe, Landis said.

“Based on my experience, the people who stay out there on the Third Street side of the city are looking for a safe place to lay their head,” he said.

Landis was homeless for 20 years and moved between camps. At one point, he lived by the Ninth Street bridge.

“They put up a fence down there too,” he said.

The actions illustrate the city’s lack of concern for the health and safety of people who have already been traumatized by the loss of their homes, according to Mona M. Jenkins, director of development and operations for Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition.

“Kicking someone while they are in a vulnerable position is inhumane, especially when you have no plan in place on where they should go,” she said. “The city is actually creating more dangerous situations for the people who are currently living under Fort Washington Way.”

It’s a point echoed by Kevin Finn, president and CEO of Strategies to End Homelessness. Every day homeless advocates are out working one-on-one with individuals, he said. With this eviction notice, the people they are trying to help will scatter.

“It’s possible the outreach workers won’t be able to find them because now they are gone,” Finn said.

The biggest myth is that people are living on the streets because there’s no room in the shelter, Finn said. That’s not true. There is space available.

“These people, for whatever reason, have decided to stay in that camp rather than staying in a shelter,” he said.

The vast majority of them would go into some sort of permanent housing if it was available for them, Finn said. This is where the city needs to focus its efforts, he added.

What happens next?

Residents of the homeless camp said that police told them to go to Prince of Peace, a Lutheran church in Over-the-Rhine for a temporary home.

But when Pastor John Suguitan of Prince of Peace was asked about these plans, he said that it has not been determined yet. The conversation is in the works, he said, but nothing is certain.

"I'm leaving today to go to the church," Randy Hundley said. Hundley has been living under the overpass for about four months.

Others in the camp said the same thing, although no one actively began to pack up and leave on Monday morning.

These plans might not be official to Suguitan, but for the homeless under the overpass, there aren't many other options. So what's next? They don't know.

"It wouldn't make sense to have a plan," said Justin Berry, a city employee.

Berry came to the camp on Monday to help administer Hepatitis H shots and to keep spirits up.

A homeless man, Jason, told The Enquirer that he has been trying to get the media's attention for a couple years or more about the abandoned buildings that the city keeps turning into restaurants or just kept closed off from the homeless.

"Why don't they turn them into homeless places?" Jason said. "Help us pay for a couple weeks, until we're back on our feet."

Jason was asleep when the police gave the announcement. He said he has no idea where he will go. Perhaps a friend will let him stay for a couple of days, he said.

Leon Evans, or Bison, as he goes by, is a former boxer that has been living at the homeless camp for four months. He said that they were originally told they could stay until the winter and that only those involved with heroin sales would be asked to leave.

Now, however, it's all of them.

"It's been too quiet the last two days," he said, "Then boom."

Bison said that he doesn't want this to be his "forever life," but that he has established himself in this spot for his artwork. He said that people come to his tent to buy his drawings and jewelry.

Bison has been through a number of programs meant to help get him off the streets. He said that he won't do that this time because they don't work.

"I'm tired of relying on a program or a white man to help me," he said.

Bison said he isn't sure where he will go next, when he is forced to abandon his home and makeshift art store. Maybe he will go to Prince of Peace, maybe to another street. He doesn't have any concrete plans.

"I don't know, I'll figure it out," Bison said. "I will figure it out. I always do."