RI- Tent-dwellers told to leave

8-8-2009 Rhode Island:

About 43 homeless people living in two makeshift camps were served notice Thursday that arguments for evicting them will be heard at 11 a.m. Friday in Superior Court, Providence.

Sheriffs hand-delivered notices to each “John Doe” and “Jane Doe” in two camps and taped notices, in English and Spanish, on posts at Hope City and Camp Runamuck II, as well as at the abandoned original Camp Runamuck.

Directors of the state Department of Administration and the Department of Transportation filed a complaint in Superior Court saying that residents of the tent cities are trespassing, that the encampments lack clean water, sanitary facilities or waste disposal services, that they attract rats and other disease-carrying vermin and that they are within 200 feet of a riverbank.

At Camp Runamuck II, where about 30 people are living in East Providence under the Route 195 bridge on the east side of the Seekonk River, Sheriff Gary Dias handed out notices as state police Capt. Kenneth Marandola briefed residents.

The same thing happened at Hope City in Providence, where about 13 are living under a former entrance ramp to Route 195 on the west side of the Providence River.

“We wanted to be sure to follow due process,” said Amy Kempe, a spokeswoman for Governor Carcieri’s office. She said Noreen Shawcross, chief of the office of Housing and Community Development, was asked to invite service providers to match people with programs after notice was served.

“We’re pretty sure that somewhere in our system we have the right service for each person,” Shawcross said at 3 p.m. as a truck delivered tables to set up a makeshift assistance center at Runamuck II.

By 5:30 p.m., “Every single person here has spoken with someone,” Shawcross said. “Some made appointments for next week for various services. We have taken applications for people expressing a willingness to move to a couples shelter we are planning on opening in a few weeks.”

Outreach workers from the Department of Mental Health, Retardation and Hospitals linked more than a dozen people to services, including one who “is in need of detox” and another headed for a methadone program, said Craig Stenning.

Workers for the state Department of Human Services helped people apply for SNAP, or food stamp, benefits and general public assistance. “We were able to make an initial contact,” said Donalda Carlson at Runamuck II. “If the group as a whole, wherever they are, have a need, we will come and help, as opposed to coming unannounced.” Residents had bristled when officials first arrived in uniform and wearing color-coded mesh vests. At one point, assistance providers outnumbered residents.

Stenning explained the vests are used to identify counselors at disaster sites, such as the Station fire.

After learning the vests were intimidating, mental health workers removed them.

Hope City leaders acknowledged that they can’t stay under a highway overpass much longer but also said they plan to fight the state’s efforts to remove them immediately.

“We never planned on staying,” said Barbara Ferraro, treasurer of Hope City.


“Tell Governor Carcieri that I’ll put these tents on his front lawn,” said Roland Colpitts, the chairman of the encampment.

Ferraro’s knowledge of the social service system impressed Lori Dorsey, a senior public health promotion specialist with the MHRH.

“You could be a social worker,” she told Ferraro, after Ferraro explained that she regularly helps newcomers apply for food stamps and other services.

Ferraro explained that the members of Hope City don’t want to return to shelters.

“Many don’t want to abide by the rules of a shelter,” Kempe said, adding that shelters do not permit the use of drugs or alcohol, nor do they permit weapons. “The Office of Housing and the Department of Human Services are down there offering housing solutions.”

“We want a house,” Colpitts said. “I don’t want to stay under a bridge. But the waiting list for [public] housing is up to five years.”

At Runamuck II, Barbara Kalil, 50, told an assembly of reporters: “While we are grateful for this assistance,” she said, “we are concerned that our homeless peers across the state are not receiving this level of service. Homelessness, including tent encampments, is a statewide problem and must be considered as such. Runamuck may be the most visible manifestation of the problem, but it is far from the only one.”

Jim Ryczek, executive director of the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless, said the number of homeless people in May jumped to 933 from 707 for the same year-ago period, a 32 percent increase.

Emergency shelter beds aren’t the answer, especially if the population surges in the winter, he said.

“The pipeline is getting more and more clogged,” he said. “No one has come up with a plan for the winter.”

Kalil said the unemployed campers included carpenters and electricians. “Why can’t they go into a place and fix it up and live in it at the same time,” taking one foreclosed home off the books.

No one was at the first Camp Runamuck site, under an old highway ramp off South Water Street, to see the taped notice. All that remained was black garbage bags, busted tables and a handful of stools, chairs and bikes piled near the bridge.

Hope City: About 13 residents

Camp Runamuck: Largely abandoned

Camp Runamuck II: About 30 residents

The state says the tent cities lack clean water, sanitary facilities or waste disposal services and attract rats and other disease-carrying vermin.

Some residents refuse to abide by shelter rules which prohibit drug and alcohol use. Others say the state has not done enough to provide housing or jobs. ..Source.. by Donita Naylor, Linda Borg and PAUL DAVIS, Journal Staff Writers