Homeless residents, nearby business owners and service providers say that gun violence, assaults, extortion, theft and drug dealing have proliferated, largely unfettered, in the Third Avenue encampment and surrounding streets.
The camp — a 15-acre lot of city-owned land — is full of vulnerable people who aren’t protected, Hubbard said.
He’s been living in the camp for about a month. “I mean, even security can only do so much. And they do — only do so much,” he said. “And then the cops come, and then they don’t even seem to do much at all, either.” The couple fled. Hogan ran out of the camp, pushing Bismark in her wheelchair east toward the Brother Francis Shelter a block away, he said.
At Catholic Social Services’ 3rd Avenue Resource & Navigation Center, just down the hill from the camp, homeless residents can take showers, charge their phones, have coffee and a snack. They can also get connected to social services — though openings for housing and shelter programs are scarce. She already struggled with her mental health. After the shooting, and the trauma of her experience in the camp, Bismark attempted suicide.
Many spoke of a group of young men they said were responsible for most of the chaos — assaults, robbery, theft and gunfire. The sole security guard got out of his car and swung open the large red gate. A city truck loaded with barrels of drinking water drove in. “Man, you can’t even use the bathrooms down there. You got four or five people in there smoking dope. You can’t get in, or they take all the toilet paper,” Hogan said.
Others in the camp trudged through mud and around large puddles last Tuesday to a row of white canopies just outside the fence. Service providers at a weekly outreach popup handed out snack bags, water and clothing. At one table, people could sign up for food benefits. A nearby food truck served lunch — two slices of pizza.
Pip Printing owner John Tatham, left, and Rob Cupples, who owns a nearby vacation rental business, talk about the problems they have experienced this summer since a large homeless camp has grown nearby.
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