Providence Mayor Brett Smiley is evicting up to 85 people experiencing homelessness from three encampments

"They'll probably build another casino before they put up housing for the homeless, or get homeless people into housing of any sort," said Real, who is unhoused.

Real, facing eviction while homeless

“I'm just so fed up with all this stuff,” said Jackie [not her real name] a woman who has been struggling with homelessness for many years. “We don't do anything. We found this spot after all the other spots. It's like one after another. It's just sickening. We're going crazy. I don't know where to go. I'm so sick of doing this.”

I met Jackie, Micheal, Real, and many other people living in the three encampments in Providence that Mayor Brett Smiley is currently evicting. Between 50 and 85 people, across three encampments, one located outside Crossroads RI and two others with addresses I am redacting, will be affected. As of this writing, the hope of finding shelter for all or any of the unhoused residents of these encampments is bleak.

The people affected by these evictions are part of an ever-growing population of unhoused people - 529 of whom are living outside without shelter at last count. Several people I spoke to over the last two days expressed the hope that there might be an opening for them in ECHO Village, a project by House of Hope CDC that is building small houses and providing wraparound services for unhoused people. That project, though, has been delayed.

“Recognizing the crisis we are facing in Rhode Island, it has always been our goal to open ECHO Village as quickly and safely as possible, with dignity standards in place,” said Laura Jaworski, Executive Director of House of Hope CDC in a comment. “We remain optimistic for an early summer opening of ECHO Village.”

Meanwhile, the state has decided to cut 735 shelter beds between now and the end of September 2024, with no announced plans to replace them.

Department of Housing Director Stefan Pryor has not responded to my questions. The pertinent parts of the statement from Mayor Smiley’s office are reproduced below.

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On Wednesday I found an outreach worker at the smaller of the two camps letting people know about the imminent evictions.

Outreach Worker: I'm trying to give you a heads-up ahead of time because I know you've been through it once before and how bad it was last time. I have the letter on my phone from the City of Providence to let you know that on May 10th, the police will be out here with an eviction notice. I'm trying to give you a little advance notice because I don't want what happened last time to happen again.

Woman in tent: I haven't heard that. Where do I go?

Outreach Worker: We haven't been told of anywhere you can go.

Woman in tent: Can I go to [the other encampment]?

Outreach Worker: No. They're getting the same eviction notice.

Woman in tent: That's scary.

Outreach Worker: I know it's scary. We're trying to figure it out. That's why I'm trying to get out here with this advanced notice. I have the letter from the city if you need to see it.

Woman in tent: I don't care about why. I just care about getting me out of here.

Outreach Worker: We'll try to get you out of here. It's a lot of people.

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I asked the outreach worker about the process of eviction, and whether there is a better path forward.

Outreach Worker: I asked them to look at the model that was used in North Providence, where it was wonderful. We had buy-in from the North Providence City Council and the North Providence Police to help us out. Because we had that buy-in, we were able to work with the Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness to find spaces for folks in an ethically informed, trauma-informed way. And it worked. The difference was remarkable. We did it calmly. We did it over a period of time. We worked together to find places for everyone.

The homeless outreach liaison in North Providence still checks in with us.

Providence does not have a homeless outreach liaison.

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We approached another tent and met Real, a 39-year-old man experiencing homelessness.

Outreach Worker: You got an eviction for May 10th.

Real: Two days after my birthday. Wonderful.

Outreach Worker: They gave me a heads-up to help you find something for you. We're going to try to figure something out.

Real: I've got a place at the [other encampment].

Outreach Worker: I've got worse news. They're evicting that site on the same day.

Steve Ahlquist: How long have you been in this encampment?

Real: Eight months.

Steve Ahlquist: I know it's not perfect, but how is it out here?

Real: It’s very accommodating considering that you've got trees and nice scenery and the highway and stuff like that. But other than that, take it as you see it.

Steve Ahlquist: How are you treated out here by people or the police or anybody else?

Real: We are considered an eyesore for the most part, but some people who want to help come out here and give us food, clothes, or whatever the heart desires.

Steve Ahlquist: You found out that you have about a week before the City is going to evict you. Can you tell me about that?

Real: As far as the eviction process goes, that's going to be a whole headache within itself. We already know that the police are going to come down here in full force and they're not exactly going to be nice about it. They're going to want us to go as quickly as possible because they've either had us labeled as a nuisance or as an eyesore because of the trash, or bad for the public. People don't like us being here.

Steve Ahlquist: It's hard to see your tents from the road.

Real: True. You're not sticking out here if you know what I'm saying, but considering that everybody on that side of the road can see us through the trees, that's where the problem lies. If the foliage stayed up all year, I don't think we would have as many complaints or problems.

Steve Ahlquist: What is your plan? To get out before the police come?

Real: I've been here for eight months. Leaving with everything I own will be very hard to do. So I’m going to be smart about it, and get as much done now - before they come would be better.

Steve Ahlquist: Is there any possibility of you getting housing from the state or anyone else?

Real: They'll probably build another casino before they put up housing for the homeless, or get homeless people into housing of any sort.

Steve Ahlquist: So you think you'll just end up in another encampment then?

Real: First, I'll just start as one person being somewhere in the woods, far off the beaten path, then there will be two, then four, then six, and then we'll have this process over and over again.

Steve Ahlquist: This is not the first time you've been through this...

Real: Not my first rodeo. This is my second or third. We started originally in North Providence behind Stop and Shop. They cut that down. We came down this way. They're cutting this down. We will go to our next option but we're running out. The choices are minuscule as far as where we can go. But then again, we're going to get so fed up, that we might just go back to the State House again.

Steve Ahlquist: If you could tell the governor or the mayor, anything, what would you tell them?

Real: I would tell them we need dedicated people who are ready to put in the work to allow us to get off the streets. Being out here is not exactly easy, but at the same time, if we had more help, a lot more people wouldn't be out here.

If I ever have the luck to be the one to get out of this, I would take advantage of it and you would see me as the poster kid - because I don't have as many issues as a lot of other individuals. I'm not addicted to anything. I help people out here as best I can because we're people at the end of the day. But being inside with running water, being able to flush the toilet, being able to get up in the middle of the night and go to the fridge, those accommodations would be so much better than being out here. It's been hard, cold. Especially in the winter.

It's hard. Very hard.

The simplicity of actually being able to press a button and the heat comes on versus having to sit out here in the cold for 30 minutes trying to start a fire. Big difference. I did my Boy Scout days and now I'm grown and doing it again.

When are we going to be able to make a situation better for us? Who's going to be our voice? Who's going to be the person helping us get off the streets, get off of drugs, and get ourselves into housing? Who's that individual? That's what I want to know.

Steve Ahlquist: In my experience, encampments offer safety because you've got people you know around you - neighboring tents and people who look out for each other.

Real: We have to.

Steve Ahlquist: When your encampment is evicted, who looks out for you? How does that work?

Real: It doesn't. Who helps those who help everyone? Out here, we had to learn about one another before we got comfortable enough to help each other out. That's a process. When we go somewhere new, we have to deal with different people and different emotions and all that.

One thing I can say is that being out here is the most humbling experience because everybody here understands what it is to not have versus having. Going through life having - doesn't exactly give you a good view of things in my opinion. Being able to see, from the good to the bad, being humble from being out here, having nothing - to being in a house, having pretty much everything that we don't have here. The contrast is revealing.

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Jackie (quoted at the top of this piece) approached the outreach worker and me, after hearing the news about the eviction.

Jackie: This sucks. I don't understand where we're supposed to go. I thought the pallet houses would be ready... Are they going to give us an option to get housed?

Outreach Worker: I will make sure you're all updated in CES.

The Coordinated Entry System (CES) is a dynamic database for people experiencing a housing crisis that seeks to match a person in need with suitable housing. There are around 800 people on that list, waiting for housing. For most of the people on that list, there will be no housing available for months, if not years.

Jackie: My feet are so infected. I don't know if that would help me because they are so bad.

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On Thursday I met Michael (not his real name) at the largest of the three encampments targeted by the Smiley Administration, outside the tent he shares with his niece.

Steve Ahlquist: How long have you been out here?

Michael: Since Christmas.

Steve Ahlquist: How is it out here?

Michael: It's not bad. With the community we have, it is pretty easy. We all work together, help each other out, and keep the riff-raff and the troubles from other places out of here.

Steve Ahlquist: You look out for each other and make sure you're all safe?

Michael: Yep.

Steve Ahlquist: You heard that you're being evicted by the mayor?

Michael: Yes.

Steve Ahlquist: How did you hear about this? How is this happening?

Michael: I heard about the eviction from a few people from Better Lives, Crossroads, and House of Hope. The city says that the land is contaminated.

For years here we never had any issues. The city never bothered us until they acquired the land. Then they said that the land was contaminated. But I say if it is, where are the public records? Why aren't you producing the evidence? It doesn't make any sense.

The soil that's behind us over there, that's good loom. I know that because I know the guys that come in and take it. They come in and pick it out and they take it to the landscapers.

Steve Ahlquist: So they're using the loom here for landscaping...

Michael: The city wants us out. They want to develop this land. Are there biohazards you're going to spend millions of dollars to clean up so you can make it into a park or whatever?

This is the only encampment that hasn't had a death. This one's the only one that the neighbors haven't called and complained about. We're trying to get it clean. We take a little bit more pride in our encampment.

Steve Ahlquist: This is my third visit here. It looks pretty good.

Michael: We’re people trying to survive. Some people's happiness is they get to drink wine every night. Some may smoke part now that it's legal, or mushrooms. The people here, like I said, we're the only campsite in the state that hasn't had an overdose. Politicians don't care. We get treated like we're nothing, but we’re not bothering anybody.

We don't know what we're doing. We're trying to stay in society without being a burden, without chaos and anything.

Steve Ahlquist: How do you navigate that? How do you live in society and not be in society and not be noticed?

Michael: It's unfair. Me being here, I've helped out quite a few people. There were a couple of overdose scenarios where we needed Narcan. But it was in-house. If we had waited for the fire department, they'd be dead. They'd be dead.

Steve Ahlquist: The last time I was here it was because the police were harassing people and violating their civil rights.

Michael: The police don't bother us. A lot of that is because you have persons like me who have no warrants and are not afraid of them. I talk with them and say, “Listen, before you can come over here, let me announce to the people that you're here. Give them fair warning. You want us to work with you, work with us.” There are quite a few officers who are very nice and kind and willing to work with us. The rest of the community here knows that I work with them because we need the police too. Without the police, it's going to be worse.

But then, there are some cops on the second shift that plant stuff. They told a couple of kids here, “Either you work with us or we're going to say that this is yours.” It's unfair, but it could be worse. It could be over in other countries, like Ukraine or Israel.

Steve Ahlquist: At least they're not bombing you.

Michael: Well, in different ways, they are.

Steve Ahlquist: Yeah.

Michael: Talk about famine in Palestine? we got that out here too. If it wasn't for St. Edwards and Father Ed at the church we'd be hungry. He moved the hot meals on Saturday from St. Anthony's on Middle Spring Ave over to this church. So we can get food.

Steve Ahlquist: That's really good.

Michael: And then he allows us to go there without any ID, without any proof, to get food on Wednesdays.

Steve Ahlquist: In eight days or so, this encampment is over. You're not going to have this anymore. You're going to be somewhere else. What do you think your chances are of being housed by the state or finding a better situation?

Michael: We should get a chance to fight it in court. We should have at least 30 days.

Steve Ahlquist: They're giving you two days.

Michael: We haven't heard anything about the pallet houses. We're on the list, but we haven't got anything.

Steve Ahlquist: I heard the pallet houses have been delayed.

Michael: The majority of us here don't know what we're going to do. Some of us have animals. I'm disabled and my animal is a support animal and I don't know... He's pretty much the community's dog.

It's scary. Some of the people here don't understand the reality of what is going to come down on us. I've been warning them and I've been telling them. It's going to scare the shit out of me when they come in with the tractors and do what they did in New York and Los Angeles or to Charles Street here.

We can't be on public property. We can't be on private property.

Steve Ahlquist: Where else is there?

Michael: Exactly. If we go into an abandoned house, we get hit with breaking in. It's a Catch-22. If worse comes to worst, we're going to end up going back at the State House. I don't know.

Steve Ahlquist: I don't know if the Governor's going to let that happen.

Michael: What can he do? Doesn't the State House belong to the people?

Steve Ahlquist: You would think.

Is there anything you want to say to these politicians?

Michael: I would like to say to them, “You come and spend two days out here, we'll leave and you stay where we're at for two days with the living conditions that we live in and see if you wouldn't want help.”

Let them spend the night in some of these tents that we have - when it rains and we are flooded.

Steve Ahlquist: You've been evicted before?

Michael: I did the first tent city. But I never really had to worry about the tents because I was a drunk back then and I didn't care if it got too cold. I'd go to the hospital for a bed and a hot meal, boom. I didn't worry about it. But now that I'm sober and clean, it's a different story out here. It is crazy. I have my niece here with me. She's in her thirties. I'm in my forties. We might afford an apartment between the two of us, but I'm afraid to leave. What would happen to the people here, if I wasn't here?

But the two-day notice, that's news to me. You just told me that.

Steve Ahlquist: I have a copy of the notice you'll be getting.

Michael: They want us to go and do what? Camp out on the sidewalks with our tents like it's Skid Row or Miami?

Steve Ahlquist: I cannot make sense of this mayor and this governor at all.

Michael: We even looked at legitimately renting campsites and they said we can't do that.

Steve Ahlquist: Why?

Michael: Because it's not a permanent thing. It's only for two weeks. They just don't want the rest of the state's campers to have to deal with homeless people who might have mental issues or addictions.

They want to shun us.

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“These sites have remained a serious safety concern since they were first reported to the City of Providence,” said Providence Mayor Brett Smiley through a spokesperson. “I've attached two letters that the city has provided to Better Lives RI while they and other outreach providers continue to assist the City and the State to provide shelter and housing to individuals who are currently located at [redacted] and [redacted]. As the letters note and as folks have been made aware, these properties are extremely unsafe. One property is undergoing active site mitigation and exposure remains a serious safety concern. The other is located between a highway on-ramp and off-ramp. Both have received multiple complaints and concerns from neighbors.

“As part of the city's housing support process, we first work with providers before issuing any notices to vacate. This provider is contracted by the State of Rhode Island but the city has utilized existing contracts that we have with providers at this location and our EMS teams for many months to provide outreach, support, and services to the varying individuals that have occupied the property.”