Tacoma Tenants Organizing Cmte.

Today, in the cold and rain, the Tacoma Police Department swept an encampment of approximately 30 people at 11th St. and J. St. in the Hilltop Neighborhood. The police verbally claimed they posted 72 hour’s notice, but the residents of the encampment said they received no notice.

The only notice the residents received, in fact, was their homes coming down upon them as the police dismantled their tents, taking their valuable belongings into white vans to be picked up at the Stability Site and leaving everything else to be picked up later as trash.

Police told a TTOC Organizer that Councilmember @ElectBlocker had authorized the sweep. Why today? It was a choice to carry out this sweep today on one of the coldest, rainiest days that we’ve had this season.

Instead of choosing a dry day, this caused additional chaos for our unhoused community members to find a new place to stay tonight and also completely soaked all of their personal belongings.

This inhumane action comes in the wake of the City Council’s vote to ban camping in public parks, due to go into effect on December 1, 2019. The city has mismanaged the homelessness crisis for decades, choosing to criminalize poverty and homelessness and enact band-aid...

...emergency measures instead of long-term solutions to house all residents. Winter is coming. Where are people going to go? We call on the City of Tacoma to:

1. Delay the implementation of the Metro Parks tent ban only until the city has adequate designated day and night shelter. 2. Decline to renew TMC 8.12.180 (“Unlawful Camping) set to expire December 31, 2019.

3. Follow in the footsteps of the City of Austin, TX to overturn the public camping ban, allowing police to only sweep campsites (i.e., unhoused people’s homes) if they present a public health or safety hazard or are blocking a walkway.

4. Invest in more creative emergency shelters; utilizing public land for safe and sanitary encampments and creating facilities, like Urban Rest Stop, where people experiencing homelessness have access to restrooms, showers and laundry services.

5. Immediately pass tenant protections to keep more people in their homes, as recommended by the City’s Affordable Housing Action Strategy, with an ordinance for Just Cause protections, and supporting the statewide fight for Rent Control.