City of Asheville staff and Asheville Police have given notice to several homeless camps on NCDOT property along I-240. According to APD, NCDOT plans to clean up the sites early next week.
As of Sept. 30, several tents were set up near Haywood Street and I-240, as well as Merrimon Avenue and I-240.
“Moving your camps every day, every other day, there’s no way anybody can do anything to get back on their feet,” said Reanna, who is living in one of the camps.
According to Reanna, around seven tents were set up at the Merrimon Avenue site Thursday, Sept. 29, until APD came to give notice that they needed to relocate.
“The other people, they just disappeared on me -- just left their trash and everything -- and then APD came back out telling me if I didn’t get it all cleaned up, they were going to put warrants on me,” Reanna said.
A spokesperson for APD said camping at both locations has been an ongoing issue. In February, the city of Asheville changed its notice policy for clearing camps from seven days to 24 hours. The city works with Homeward Bound when giving notice, in hopes of finding other housing options for campers.
“They’re all full, they’re all full, and they say that you got to go through this waiting list," Reanna said Friday. "It’s crazy because there’s so much jumps and hoops and everything you got to try to go through.”
Asheville Police Department sent News 13 a statement on Friday, Sept. 30, saying in part:
"Both encampment sites over the past two years have been cleaned up multiple times and NCDOT has cleaned over 1,000 tons of trash from these areas. With a constant transient re-population of tents, along with activist groups encouraging people experiencing homelessness to camp on NCDOT and City of Asheville property, and additionally providing them with camping supplies, it has enabled the continuous presence of campers in these areas.
The city of Asheville sent News 13 a statement on Friday as well, saying:
"When concerns related to homelessness arise, our first step is to ask City-funded outreach staff at Homeward Bound to respond to offer services and problem-solve the situation with the person in crisis. If health and safety concerns continue after that, Transportation, Public Works, and APD work together on further steps to resolve the issues, including but not limited to relocating people who may be trespassing or breaking other City ordinances and facilitating the clean up of campsites. The City is actively recruiting police officers to fill key vacancies to assist with enforcement and increase safety downtown and throughout the City.
In partnership with Buncombe County and Dogwood Health Trust, we're also working with the National Alliance to End Homelessness on an important project to develop short- and long-term strategies to better respond together to the current crisis of unsheltered homelessness."