In cities with high rates of displacement and homelessness, it’s increasingly common to see makeshift shelters like homeless encampments and “tent cities” crop up as unhoused people seek temporary refuge.
Major cities across the United States have been ramping up sweeps in recent years — citing it as both a safety concern and a necessary step to getting people off the streets.
But many community advocates say that encampment sweeps — without support services attached — only perpetuate cycles of chronic homelessness.
“Every time someone gets swept, it just sets us back like 10 steps,” said Duke Reiss, a peer support specialist at Blanchet House in Portland, in an interview with ProPublica.
“It makes it almost impossible to get people help because everything requires documentation.”
In 2024, ProPublica surveyed 150 people impacted by involuntary encampment sweeps.
The interviewees spoke about the devastation of losing critical items and personal belongings that ranged from social security cards, seizure medication, baby formula, wheelchairs — and even loved ones’ ashes.
Elijah Harris, a 38-year-old, was living in a tent in Hollywood, California when sanitation workers came to begin a sweep.
In the time it took him to warn friends and return to the scene, his tent and all of his belongings (birth certificate, passport, license, storage keys, and more) were gone.
When Harris tried to retrieve his items, he faced road block after road block.
“They ask you to take a picture of the front and back of your ID and then take a selfie to verify it’s you, but I couldn’t do that,” said Harris, who lost his phone in the sweep as well. “It was a disaster.”
According to ProPublica, Los Angeles officials did not comment on Harris’ case specifically, but responded in a statement saying the city “works to not unnecessarily remove anyone’s belongings.”
However, ProPublica’s research showed that Harris’ situation is not uncommon in the unhoused community.
“I was trying to get off the streets, but they set me back,” Harris said. “It’s not easy getting services, and trying to find work, and trying to save.”
Now, a new study from University of Colorado researchers is shedding light on the efficacy — or lack thereof — of forced shelter removals.
The study, published in the Journal of Urban Health, found insignificant decreases in total crimes in the days immediately following the sweeps, suggesting that encampments were not inherently linked to a rise in crime.
“The highest level finding from this research is, despite the commonly held belief that displacing people makes crime go down and makes the rest of the community safer, we did not see evidence to support that claim,” Pranav Padmanabhan — lead author and research assistant at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus — told CU Anschutz.
“Previous work has shown that forcing unhoused people to move without access to services is harmful to health,” Padmanabhan said. “Until we get to the root causes of homelessness, these methods are actually not making us safer.”
Although the study from the University of Colorado centered their research in Denver, Padmanabhan believes the data has broader implications nationwide.
“While this analysis looked at only one major metro area,” she said, “I believe the lessons learned are generalizable and can be applied in other cities around the country that are struggling with what to do with encampments.”
Joshua Barocas — senior author and associate professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine — agreed with his colleague, inviting other researchers to explore the issue.
“With the recent Supreme Court decision Grants Pass vs. Johnson that allows cities like ours to make the decision to displace people, this analysis should make us think if sweeping is the best use of resources,” Barocas said.
“As city officials juggle the needs of people experiencing homelessness and the safety concerns of the rest of the community, it’s important to consider that previous research shows encampment sweeps do not help those who are homeless, and according to this study’s results, are also not making the rest of us any safer.”
Across the country, nonprofit volunteers and social service workers are finding alternative ways to meet unhoused people where they’re at, by making regular visits to encampments to deliver hot meals, offer rides to congregate shelters and drug treatment centers, and sit side-by-side as they discuss possible financial resources like veteran and disability benefits.
The aforementioned nonprofit, Blanchet House, does all of that — and more. They even have a farm where unhoused community members can work through their sobriety in a rural setting — with 8 months of free room and board — as they assist with gardening, animal care, beekeeping, and woodworking.
“Fifty men stay with us at Blanchet House and 24 at the farm at a time,” Scott Kerman, the executive director of Blanchet House & Farm, said in a statement. “That’s 74 communities of family and friends who are now healing and receiving renewed hope for their loved ones.”
Kerman went on to talk about the importance of leading with compassion and dignity when it comes to getting people off the streets.
“Blanchet House feeds, clothes, shelters, and heals thousands of people,” Kerman said. “What’s more, the aid we provide together profoundly expresses our shared humanity.”
“By serving with compassion and without judgment, we affirm our guests’ dignity and remind them—and ourselves—that things can get better.”
Header image via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
