The homeless device for enforcing the camping ban

LOWELL — Even the beautiful weather earlier this week couldn’t persuade many of the homeless people living in public encampments scattered across the city to venture far from their tents and sheds. They said they were afraid to leave in case the police came to clean up their things.

On November 12, the City Council passed an ordinance making camping on public property illegal in the city of Lowell. The orderly is enforceable through the Lowell Police Department and went into effect this week. Homeless people The Sun spoke to on Tuesday and Wednesday said they had been told the ban would not be enforced until December 9.

“People came up and told us we have until Dec. 9 to get out,” said David, who declined to give his last name because he said he was afraid to be identified.

Neither Director of Homeless Initiatives Maura Fitzpatrick nor Deputy City Manager Shawn Machado responded to a request for comment on the city’s most recent homeless count, the date the ordinance went into effect or if ordinance signs will be distributed in known homeless areas.

A federally mandated January counting the point in time Of the number of people experiencing homelessness, 189 were found to be sheltered and 97 were homeless in Lowell. Advocates say the number has increased.

David’s outdoor shelter was on a steep terrace at Thorndike and Middlesex streets. The dirt path, which had to be traversed by side steps, led to a small clearing where four tents were clustered closely together. Several of the tents were set up on wooden pallets, and the site overlooked the railroad tracks that exited the MBTA commuter rail station.

Ironically, the camp is visible from the LPDs Fleet services and Arch Street Sign Division.

David said he used to live in Dracut, but a divorce caused him to lose his house and eventually his apartment. He heard of Lowell’s camps and headed for town.

“I eat at Eliot’s every day,” he said, standing in the doorway of his green tent. “When I don’t go out, I don’t eat.”

Eliot Church on Summer Street is not far from David’s Camp and is directly across from South Common Park. The church leads a the day center program which provides homeless people with food and shelter during the day Monday through Friday using the friendship room and kitchen from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The church does not offer overnight shelter.

Since 2023, to address neighborhood and councilor complaints, the city has released several homeless campshoping to lead those living outside in the Lowell Transitional Living Center shelter, located just a few blocks from Eliot Church.

Instead, some of the homeless broke off into smaller groups and burrowed deeper into less obvious outdoor spaces, which affected the schedule. Some have set up extensive and highly visible camps on state-owned land, while others have moved into public spaces such as South Communewhich resides in the 22.5 acre public green space.

Some homeless people have resisted placement at LTLC, citing issues related to safety, cleanliness and bed availabilitypreferring to take his chances on the street.

But at the request of the previous board and especially the current one, the Lowell Police were aggressively tasked park supervision and surrounding area for vagrancyhomelessness, possession and lateness.

In October, police revealed they had made 214 arrests while responding to 604 incidents since June 5 in the JAM neighborhood around South Common — encompassing Jackson, Appleton, Middlesex and other nearby streets.

As a result of constant law enforcement, there has been a reverse migration with pockets of homelessness now found throughout the city.

A reporter found a group gathered on the benches of the Ecumenic Plaza, located between the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Trinity on one side of the street and the Catholic Church of St. Patrick on the other. A smaller group was seen in the private garden near the Whistler Museum. Off Dutton Street near Swamp Locks Plaza, a homeless person was wrapped in a purple quilt sleeping on a park bench, while on Gorham Street, several people huddled under tarps they had attached to the interior a fence Property of Lowell Housing Authority.

Local businesses have complained about an increase in homelessness in the Merrimack Street business district, especially since the city moved its Community Opioid Outreach Program to the Health Department’s fourth-floor offices.

The CO-OP team works with multiple first responder agencies to reduce the number of fatal and non-fatal overdoses in Lowell. The team also provides outreach services to the homeless population.

The city says it has spent nearly $10 million on assistance and services for Lowell’s homeless population in recent years, including $2 million to LTLC for infrastructure improvements and $2 million to Teamwork in the community to open 19 new permanent housing units and a planned 50-bed shelter for homeless women on Church Street.

However, the need continues to grow in a state that is short 200,000 homesand the city has reached out to state and federal leaders for help in addressing the homelessness crisis.

Across town near UMass Lowell’s South Campus, a well-established homeless encampment was quiet Tuesday morning. Some tents surrounded the ashes from a hearth, one of several found throughout the grounds. Campfires can be seen from the Pawtucketville side of the Merrimack River.

Jing, who also did not want to give her last name, said city workers came to inform people of the no-camping ordinance, but said people did not want to go to the shelter, which she said “ he is sick reputation.”

LTLC, which has provided services and overnight shelter to the homeless for nearly 40 years, is facing its own shelter crisis. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the nearly 140-year-old five-story complex on Middlesex Street in the heart of downtown Lowell has struggled to maintain and adequately staff the facility.

In April, due to widespread vacancies, General Manager Isaiah Stephens took to social media to solicit food donations and volunteers to help feed breakfast, lunch and dinner to about 100 people a day. Residents claim widespread rodent and insect infestation, as well as poor security. The shelter failed back to back sanitary code inspectionsincluding its fire suppression systems, earlier this year.

Echoing Jing’s comments, Mayor Dan Rourke called the shelter “trash inside and out” and said shelter residents “deserve a better place” during the Oct. 15 City Council meeting.

The client-centered emergency shelter, now the largest homeless shelter and support organization north of Boston, has 90 beds and an additional 70 emergency beds during the winter to serve Lowell’s homeless population.

Jing said he will relocate if the Merrimack River location is cleaned up, but he won’t be at the shelter.

“I wasn’t bothering anyone here,” Jing said.

Originally published: November 22, 2024 at 4:30 am EST