Stop Camp Clearings!
Stop Camp Clearings!
For 12 years, BeLoved Asheville has been on the ground caring for people living on the streets in our City mobilizing thousands of people to get involved and put compassion into action. We have advocated at every turn for expanded shelter and public restrooms, the end to over-policing and citing and jailing people who have nowhere to go, and creating solutions like the first homeless Street medic team in the nation and building the BeLoved Village a new and innovative model of deeply affordable housing with equity!
And again, we are showing up to advocate for people on the streets leading a campaign in the wake of the clearing of a camp under the Lexington Bridge on Monday calling for an immediate moratorium on camp clearings.
Here is the story of how we discovered what had happened and our call for you to join us in advocating for some of the most vulnerable people in our City:
“He only asked us for a pair of shoes and now he lost everything.
What do you do when you can’t find your friends when you promised to help them?
He lived under a bridge in a shelter made out of tent, cardboard, and blankets. He walked on the back of his only pair of shoes because it was a size 10 and he wears a size 12. We went to take him these boots today as we were giving our friends without shelter winter survival supplies on our Street Medic rounds.
With winds blowing up to 50 miles an hour and the wind chill set to get down to 7 degrees, we went under the bridge only to find him and his campmates and everything they owned gone.
We were gutwrenched to learn that the camp under the Lexington Bridge was cleared by North Carolina Department of Transportation with the presence of Asheville Police Department.
THIS IS IMMORAL, DEEPLY TROUBLING, and potentially DEADLY to take people’s shelter in the winter in the midst of a health crisis.
It has been a painful week but we believe that humanizing solutions are possible.”
We invite you to join our campaign to stop camp clearings and to take action to call for an immediate moratorium on camp clearings especially in winter and per current CDC guidance by contacting the NCDOT and Secretary of Transportation J. Eric Boyette [email protected]. And contact the Asheville City Council at [email protected] and ask them to advocate to NCDOT for this moratorium on camp cleanups on DOT property statewide, to create an official policy for the City of Asheville that camps will not be cleared in winter and during this pandemic in keeping with CDC guidelines, and ask them to expand shelter in our community.
Template messages are included below.
Also if you would like to support the work of BeLoved’s Street Medic Team and help supply Winter Survival kits visit www.belovedasheville.com to donate online or for our mailing address. You can also donate via Venmo @BeLoved-Asheville.
To follow the campaign, like BeLoved on Facebook or Instagram and stay tuned to your inbox.
We are so grateful for your support of our friends on the streets and for putting compassion into action.
LETTER FOR NCDOT
Dear Secretary Boyette,
As always we thank you for your service to the people of our State.
We come to you on behalf of our most vulnerable neighbors who are homeless. and especially those who were evicted and their camp cleared from the under the Lexington Bridge in Asheville. This took place in frigid weather–a low of 24 degrees with wind gusts up to 50 miles an hour and a wind chill of 7 degrees. This action was extremely unsafe and put our neighbors at grave risk of death. This action is unconscionable and must never happen again!
For this reason, we call for an immediate investigation of these actions conducted by NCDOT where personal property was taken and thrown away and the most vulnerable people in our city were put in a potentially deadly situation. This clearly violates the spirit of the protocols being followed during this pandemic by our state and when there is a national eviction moratorium. This also goes against CDC guidance that those sheltering in place in tent camps should be allowed to stay where they are. Asheville, like most communities across the state, has a lack of shelter for people who are homeless and is in a severe housing crisis. The role of government is to support the common good and to alleviate suffering and that includes NCDOT.
And so we call on you to create new and humane policies for the entire department concerning homeless camps on NCDOT property. We call for an immediate moratorium on the destruction or removal of camps both during the winter and during this pandemic when so many North Carolinians are suffering and especially in these dangerous winter conditions. We call for and end to camp clearing during the winter months and during the pandemic. At other times we call for at least 7 days advance notice prior to actions to remove camps. Finally, we call for a policy to return all personal property moved by NCDOT to its rightful owner(s).
We would appreciate your immediate reply and action to keep our residents living on the streets safe.
LETTER FOR CITY COUNCIL
Dear City Council,
We thank you for service to our community especially during these difficult days.
We were heartbroken and outraged to learn that our neighbors living on the streets were evicted from their tents on one of the coldest days of the year (temperatures in the 20s with 50 mile an hour wind gusts and a wind chill going down to 7 degrees) from their camp under the Lexington Bridge. This action was extremely unsafe and put our neighbors at grave risk of death. This was deeply inhumane, cruel, and unconscionable and must never happen again..
We also know that this violates City policy, our community norms and values and the City of Asheville’s Vision. It not only risks lives but makes it more difficult to have the stability to access services, find work and housing, and get off the streets. It also goes against CDC guidance that those sheltering in place in tents should be allowed to camp right where they are. The role of government is to support the common good and to alleviate suffering.
To this end, we call on the City to We call for an immediate moratorium on the destruction or removal of camps both during the winter and during this pandemic when so many North Carolinians are suffering. We call on the City to create a stated policy in alignment with the CDC guidance that those sheltering in place in tents during the pandemic should be allowed to do that right where they are. We further call on the City to create a policy against camp evictions/removal during the winter months as this displacement puts people at further risk of death. We further call on the City to expand Code Purple Shelter and to raise the temperature threshold of Code Purple be raised to 40 degrees. Finally, we call on the City of Asheville to advocate and communicate to other agencies and entities operating within the City of Asheville including NCDOT to align their policies and actions with the City as we all work toward the common goal of keeping our neighbors safe and to end homelessness.
We would appreciate your immediate reply and action to keep our residents living on the streets safe.