9 Oct 5th–Oct 11th, 2023 phoenixnewtimes.com phoenix new Times | cONTeNTs | feeDBacK | OPiNiON | NeWs | feaTuRe | NighT+Day | culTuRe | film | cafe | music | ‘Utterly Indifferent’ Judge orders Phoenix to clear the Zone as city struggles to find solutions. BY TJ L’HEUREUX T he tents and makeshift shel- ters of the Zone — Phoenix’s crowded downtown homeless encampment — must be cleared away by Nov. 4, a Maricopa County judge ruled last month. Where the people who live in those tents will go is now left up to the city of Phoenix. In his Sept. 20 ruling, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney wrote that the city’s policies had allowed a “public nuisance” to develop in the Zone. He cited the human waste, trash, violence and increased illegal activity in the area as causing “irreparable harm” to the property owners and residents who brought the case to court. “When it rains, the soil in and around the area is so soaked with urine and human feces that the rain intensifies the smell,” Blaney wrote in the ruling. “Business and property owners do not go outside when it rains because of the puddles full of human urine and feces. The proliferation of human excrement and half-eaten food causes an infestation of flies and other insects in the Zone.” Kristin Couturier, a spokesperson for the city, said in a written statement that the city was disappointed by the ruling and is exploring legal options. ‘Necessary progress’ The city has been conducting sweeps in the Zone since May, clearing blocks one at a time and not allowing people to resettle them. So far, the city has carried out nine sweeps and has six more planned, with the next one set for Oct. 11. Some activists have been troubled by the way the sweeps have been carried out. Elizabeth Venable, co-founder of the nonprofit Fund for Empowerment, said the sweeps tend to be conducted around 4 a.m. and with little, if any, advance notice given to residents. According to Couturier, the city started notifying people living in the area on Sept. 26 of the next cleanup. Phoenix has been working block by block so that officials can offer adequate shelter to all people being cleared off the streets, she added. So far, the Phoenix Office of Homeless Solutions said that about 80% of people offered shelter in the sweeps have accepted it. But Venable is wary that the figure may be deceptive, adding that shelter options offered are generally not a long-term solu- tion. Jared Keenan, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, said the organization is monitoring an alarming trend in which people who accept shelter leave shortly thereafter without their tents and other necessities, making it harder to survive back on the street. The ACLU of Arizona and the Fund for Empowerment sued the city in November citing allegations the city destroyed personal property in previous sweeps. On Sept. 20, the Fund for Empowerment submitted a citizens’ petition to Phoenix City Council that, if approved, would require the city to track how long each person stays in the shelter and whether they leave voluntarily or involuntarily. According to Couturier, fewer than 400 homeless people remain in the Zone as the city rushes to find solutions. However, Blaney’s ruling will require the city to speed up its timeline to meet the court’s November deadline. In July, officials said they needed nine months to finish clearing out the Zone. “Asking the city to finish this work in six weeks is unrealistic and will ultimately be a disservice to the surrounding community,” Phoenix Vice Mayor Yassamin Ansari, whose District 7 includes the Zone, said in a written statement. “Despite that, I know we will make the necessary progress.” Court: Phoenix policies enabled the Zone to grow There have always been homeless people living around the Zone, said Bill Morlan, who owns a business in the area. But around 2018, people started settling in a way he hadn’t seen before. That year, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that cities cannot enforce public camping laws against unsheltered people who do not have access to another temporary shelter. In his ruling, Blaney said Phoenix did not correctly apply the 9th Circuit court’s deci- sion. He also suggested the 9th Circuit’s decision has increased homelessness and urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review it. Jared Keenan, legal director of the ACLU of Arizona, said the 9th Circuit ruling upholds the rights of homeless people and isn’t the cause of an increase in unsheltered people in Phoenix. “The judge seems to believe that the 9th Circuit’s ruling upholding the constitu- tional right for unsheltered people is the problem that’s leading to homelessness, not the lack of long-term solutions by poli- cymakers in Arizona and Phoenix,” Keenan told Phoenix New Times. Blaney said the city’s policies led to more people relocating to the Zone, which grew the encampment’s population. He added that Phoenix police and organiza- tions partnering with the city transported unsheltered people from around the city to the Human Services Campus in the heart of the Zone. While HSC helped those people receive assistance, it also resulted in a higher concentration of people settling in the area, the judge concluded. Blaney’s ruling also accused the city of arbitrarily enforcing the law. Although the city claimed it did not have the power to remove tents in the area, it did order a busi- ness to remove dinosaur sculptures it put up to prevent homeless people from pitching tents nearby. In March, Blaney ruled that the sculptures had to stay in place until the “public nuisance” was ended. The judge did credit the city for its goal of helping unsheltered people, but faulted Phoenix officials for doing so at the expense of property owners in the Zone. “City personnel are clearly focused on an honorable goal A tearful Zone resident stuffed her belongings into a shopping cart as a member of the press looked on in July. She was unable to take everything with her to a shelter and had to part with some possessions. (Photo O’Hara Shipe) | NEWS | >> p 10
