Updated Aug. 2
Last Thursday, Sharon Brown, director of homeless services for Harbor Homes, received a call from a member of the Island’s unhoused community that their tent was gone from an undisclosed wooded area.
One tent might’ve been able to be explained away by numerous reasons. But by Monday, Brown had received many calls that two large encampments of about 20 people were removed from the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest, Meghan Burke, director of community engagement for Harbor Homes, said.
Local officials and the non-profit say that the removal was contracted by the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, or DCR, which monitors the State Forest.
Items like medications, identification cards, clothing, and other personal belongings, were all removed when the unhoused individuals were not there, according to Burke.
“The loss of personal items is so heartbreaking,” Burke, who said this is detrimental to both their physical and mental wellbeing, told The Times. “Anything and everything they ever had with them is now gone.”
Staff from Harbor Homes, a local nonprofit that runs the winter shelter and provides solutions to homelessness on the Island, reached out to local and state police, who were both unaware of any clearings nor had any of the belongings in their possession, Burke said.
They’ve learned that “trucks with dumpsters were brought to the Island, items were collected, and brought back off-Island,” Burke said.
While Harbor Homes has maintained that individuals sheltered in the State Forest were not warned beforehand, state officials say that they provided warning.
Over the past month, the state said that staff has made direct in-person to notify them of the scheduled clean up and asked that they remove their belongings ahead of the clearing.
Additionally, DCR posted signs in advance of the scheduled clean up, notifying the individuals that any items that remained at the site at the time of the scheduled clean up would be disposed of.
A statement from the department said that no more than three individuals were in the encampments as of a week ago and that a maximum of approximately five individuals were there in June.
They also said that site clearing has been conducted annually for the past four years.
“In coordination with state and local law enforcement, DCR routinely clears encampments in state parks to protect the environment, the safety of the public and to maintain our public lands. These actions help reduce risks from uncontrolled fires and hazardous conditions; prevent damage and contamination to natural habitats; address unsanitary conditions; and are part of our ongoing work to maintain our public assets and ensure they are safe spaces for all,” a statement reads. “DCR continues to work closely with our municipal and public safety partners as well as local agencies and organizations that assist and provide resources to individuals affected by these clearings.”
The Times previously visited some of these encampments in June and returning on Thursday saw that, in fact, all traces of the Island’s unhoused were removed. Items including clothes that hung on branches to dry, cans of cooking oil that surrounded one tent to drown ants as well as the only shelter that some people had were all gone.
DCR had previously told The Times that they are aware of and regularly monitor the State Forest encampments and that they do cleanups by a hazmat team to “remove accumulated hazardous materials including propane tanks, lithium batteries, needles, and sharps, among other items.”
The state department also said in a statement to The Times on June 26 that they work with partner agencies and municipalities to “find solutions that ensure the safety of all.”
Harbor Homes wasn’t warned, and action was taken without local police collaboration.
Local police say that they’d also planned to do a clean-up of homeless encampments on town properties that would focus on the removal of hazardous and dangerous materials that could attract rodents or pose a hazard to anyone in that area. They plan to provide notice to individuals unsheltered on the properties and have contacted local social service entities. Once cleaned up, they would allow the unhoused to go back. They haven’t set a date yet for this clean-up.
There’s been swift criticism of the state’s response from Island officials.
“It’s disappointing that local authorities, local offices, local anyone [weren’t] contacted to see if there was some way to save their items,” Arielle Faria, Island housing advocate and state representative candidate, told The Times. “To save them having to go through the heartache of losing everything they have when they have very little to start with.”
Faria said the Island is a tight-knit community, and that these people are community members, they’re just unhoused. “You don’t do this,” she said.
They already try to stay out of harm’s way, out of public spaces, and the State Forest seems like a viable option, even if it’s not the right one, she said.
The clear-out comes weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that cities can ban people from sleeping and camping in public places on June 28. In probably the largest reaction to the ruling, news reports say that the California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order that told state officials to remove homeless encampments.
Dr. Brian Morris, a mental health specialist and substance use disorder access coordinator at Island Health Care, said that what’s happened in California has now happened here.
All stakeholders wonder what is the plan for those displaced by this week’s removals. Harbor Homes is actively working to ensure that people have a safe place to go. To Burke’s knowledge, all shelters on Cape Cod, and even state-wide, she said, are full.
The non-profit staff is currently meeting with the unhoused community members to take account of what was lost and figure out a way to help them. They do not currently know where they’re staying, Burke said.
“This is not a problem going away anytime soon,” Morris said, who also runs a group that makes a concerted effort to solve Island issues like homelessness called HUB MV. HUB MV was also not warned.
