Providence Police and Smiley Administration attempted to evict an unhoused encampment in North Providence this morning

"I'm not prepared to talk to the media at this time," said Nick Cicchitelli, Director of Real Estate for the City of Providence.

This is a developing story:

Officers from the Providence Police Department and Nick Cicchitelli, Director of Real Estate for the City of Providence, attempted to evict an unhoused encampment Monday morning. Contractors from DiPrete Engineering were on hand, ready to throw away whatever the evicted campers had to leave behind.

It turns out the encampment is located in North Providence.

Upon arrival, I spoke with Amy Santiago, an outreach worker with Better Lives Rhode Island; then, when I asked for a comment, Director Cicchitelli referred me to the Mayor’s communications office.

Advocates on-site informed me that the police officers admitted that they had no complaints about the encampment.

Providence Police have raided this particular site before. I had asked the Administration of Mayor Brett Smiley about the eviction, in light of a City policy to give 30 days’ notice prior to an eviction. The Administration replied:

“In April, service providers and occupants at [the site] were provided 30-day notice of the need to vacate due to unsafe site conditions (mitigation of contamination levels exceeding the Residential Direct Exposure Criteria (RDEC) and imminent transfer of the property for redevelopment. Since then, the property has been secured with fencing and posted with no-trespassing signage. This is a private property. Given these circumstances, individuals found to have recently reoccupied the site despite the standing no-trespass order and posting were issued a 72-hour notice. Outreach providers are aware of the site conditions and prior vacate orders and have been engaged in assisting those individuals with other options.

“To speak specifically to the 30-day notice that is provided to city contracted providers and the Department of Housing at least 30 days prior to anyone receiving an official vacate notice from the police and is separate. After 30 days of intensive outreach, a 48- or 72-hour notice is then issued.”

Mayor Smiley has been adamant about evicting encampments in the City. Here are his most recent words on this:

Steve Ahlquist: As you know, we had at least four people in Providence die in recent weeks while experiencing homelessness. I’m sure other mayors have experienced this as well. The current policy is to put in a 30-day notice to vacate, but mostly, they don’t find housing and move to other places, maybe into a neighboring City. Is that a sustainable model, and is that something we will suffer through for the next cold months?

Mayor Smiley: As you know, I’m starting my third year as Mayor right now, and in my tenure, we have had deaths, overdoses, acts of violence, fires, and a particularly disturbing trend of sexual assault in encampments. It is my strong opinion that encampments are not safe and not suitable for people to live in. At the advocates’ request for the unhoused, we have implemented a 30-day notice before clearing encampments. And that has given folks the time to work with caseworkers, funded by the City, to find other placements.

As you know, we’ve made additional emergency warming shelters available in the City, and on any given night, beds or spaces are available. If it’s an emergency warming center, it’s not a bed. There are three emergency shelters in Providence, not counting the warming centers. We believe that is a safer, more suitable place in emergency circumstances than encampments.

That will remain our policy as we work to expand shelter capacity and housing options—both transitional and long-term housing. We’re all facing the challenge of trying to balance the interests of the safety of those impacted. We can’t keep people safe in encampments. They’re not a suitable solution in the City of Providence. We’re happy to continue to receive feedback on ways to evolve our policy like we did with the 30-day notice, but long-term encampments in Providence are not an option.