‘We don’t call them tents. We call them homes.’ Homeless encampment near Garner evicted.

Outside her tent, Brandy stands near a Spectra breast pump box.

She’s seven-months pregnant with a baby girl and homeless.

“We’re just trying to survive,” she said Tuesday morning. “We just need help. They’d rather put us out than help us. What are we supposed to do?”

Brandy, who declined to provide her last name, has been homeless for two years and has lived in the “Welcome to Garner” encampment — named for a nearby sign — for six months.

She was one of the first people to take up residence in a small patch of land and trees at the intersection of Highways 70 and 401 in the state transportation right-of-way.

At the border of Garner and Raleigh, the camp has grown to more than a dozen tents in recent months, drawing complaints from some Wake County residents. Last week, the Raleigh Police Department taped notices ordering those living there to vacate by 10 a.m. Tuesday.

“Over the past two weeks, law enforcement has deemed the area unsafe due to a recent uptick in criminal activity,” according to a statement from the N.C. Department of Transportation. “NCDOT allowed Southeast Community Officers to visit the location on Friday and post Notice to Vacate signs around the property, as well as speak with several of the campsite residents to inform them of the trespass notice.”

In a statement, the Police Department said it is “familiar with the group of unsheltered people staying on state property at the interchange of US 70 and US 401” and has been working with NCDOT since the beginning of the year to provide assistance to them.

In March, the department’s ACORNS unit , which has social workers and officers and takes a “care and safety first, enforcement last” approach, held three outreach sessions with the people in the camp, according to the statement. ACORNS has also coordinated and conducted visits with Healing Transitions’ rapid responder outreach team.

“While the people in the encampment have consistently declined services through ACORNS and the city of Raleigh, ACORNS held another session with residents yesterday (Monday),” the statement continued. “We will continue to help make connections to programs available through the city and private partners. Enforcement is our last option in this complicated situation.”

The Raleigh Police Department has responded to five motor-vehicle collisions and a road hazard over the past six months in the area of the U.S. 70/401 split.

Garner Mayor Buddy Gupton didn’t respond to an email from The News & Observer on Tuesday morning. A Garner spokesperson said he was out of town and wouldn’t be available for an interview until he returned.

Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said she was away and unavailable for an interview. She did say, however, that ACORNS was involved with the encampment.

US Supreme Court weighing anti-camping laws

Nonprofits, including Oak City Cares, Healing Transitions and Food Not Bombs, were at the encampment Tuesday. They brought trucks to help carry items away, trash bags to clean up the area and bagged sandwiches and water bottles.

Several who came to help pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court weighing whether local laws can punish people for sleeping outdoors, a case they said added to the uncertainty faced by people living in tents and cars.

Kathy Johnson, executive director of Oak City Cares, said in their first year they helped just over 700 people. They’re on track this year to help 6,000.

“We’re in the midst of a perfect storm,” she said. “We have a lack of affordable housing. We also are having issues with wages or communities not having livable wages that support people getting into housing and staying there. And you’ve got (rising) inflation.”

Nicole Reynolds lost her home during the COVID-19 pandemic and was living in a Cary hotel. When the hotel raised the room rates ahead of the recent Dreamville festival, she moved to the encampment.

She knows several homeless people who were staying in hotels before the festival. Even before the higher rates, it could easily cost $100 a day or more to stay in a low-cost hotel.

“It’s about three grand a month,” Reynolds said. “It’s really expensive being poor.”

As she was packing her tent, she began to cry.

“I have three degrees,” she said. “My teeth have started falling out. I’m born and raised in this city. And I can’t find any help. All the people think you did something to get here. That you’ve done something. ‘Oh you’ve got to be on drugs.’ No. I didn’t do anything but pay my rent. All I need is a couch. Just a couch.”

Tonya Barbis lives in a tent with her son and their small, brindle-colored dog, Gizmo. They’ve lived at this encampment for the past three weeks and lived in a car before that.

She’s heard people driving by yell “Get a job!”

“Believe it or not there are several people out here who have jobs, and several people are on disability,” she said. “And there is a lot of people that are here because of drug addiction.”

This is her first time being homeless, and it’s been an “emotional roller coaster.”

“We keep getting kicked out. We keep getting pushed out,” said a man at the encampment who goes by Wild Horse.

“We collect stuff, and we put them in our homes,” he explained. “We don’t call them tents. We call them homes.”

Shortly before 10 a.m. Tuesday Brandy was still packing up her stuff: the tent and rest of her belongings laid out nearby. She was not sure where she’d go, but said she didn’t want to be arrested.

“I’m beyond excited (to be pregnant),” Brandy said. “But I’m just sad I have to bring her into this world like this. But it’s the world we live in.”

Reporter Richard Stradling contributed to this report.

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