At least seven campsites along the Bear Creek Greenway were cleared by the Medford Police last week under a local ordinance that prohibits people from sleeping outside. The ordinance makes it a crime for people to sleep or lie down in public for more than 24 hours at a time.
Supporters of the ordinance say it鈥檚 an effort to clean up unsanitary conditions and reduce fire risk along the Bear Creek Greenway, where many unhoused people live.
Jay Hoffman with the Housing Justice Alliance says the ordinance isn鈥檛 a solution to that.
鈥淏y continuously displacing folks, you know, we鈥檝e heard folks say things like, 鈥榦kay, how can we hide from them this time?鈥欌�� says Hoffman. 鈥淚t creates even more fire danger and spread of COVID with people constantly moving and being displaced and having to start over.鈥�
Medford Police gave 72 hours notice before clearing the camps. During that time, they brought resources and social workers to help homeless people transition out of their camps. Medford Police said the people who were evicted 鈥渁ccepted transitional shelter options, or made other arrangements.鈥�
Derek DeForest, a local housing advocate, says the provided options were insufficient.
鈥淪o this 鈥榦ther arrangement鈥� seems code for 鈥榳e just pushed them elsewhere along the greenway鈥� or 鈥榯hey鈥檙e now sleeping in a parking lot鈥� or 鈥榯hey now have a hotel voucher that they can鈥檛 use because they don鈥檛 have an ID.鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 sound like much of an arrangement to me.鈥�
DeForest says one man who was displaced from his camp was given a hotel voucher, but couldn鈥檛 use it because he didn鈥檛 have an ID to check into the hotel. Now, instead of sleeping in a tent, he鈥檚 sleeping in his truck.
The evictions also raise health concerns. The National Homelessness Law Center wrote to the city last week, saying the ordinance violates COVID guidelines from the C.D.C. as well as raises constitutional concerns of cruel and unusual punishment.
They also said that because accessible local shelters have several hundred applicants on the waitlist, houseless people don鈥檛 have access to alternative shelter.
Previous court rulings say it鈥檚 unlawful to prohibit people from sleeping outside without an alternative. They say that because the Kelly Shelter -- the only low barrier, year-round shelter in Medford -- has over 580 people on the waitlist, reasonable alternatives aren鈥檛 available.
Although public camping in Medford is now a criminal misdemeanor, no one was arrested last week. But police say these sweeps will continue for months.
Housing advocate Jay Hoffman says they saw people鈥檚 belongings being thrown away before bulldozers drove through the camps.
鈥淚鈥檓 super grateful that people were not put in jail. But that bar is so low,鈥� says Hoffman. 鈥淭he fact that people鈥檚 homes were just fully demolished. You know, they鈥檙e homes, and the police don鈥檛 see it like that.鈥�
Medford Police did not respond to request for comment.