PHOENIX — All tents and makeshift shelters have been removed from the Phoenix encampment known as “The Zone,” just hours away from the Maricopa County Superior Court-ordered deadline, city officials said.
The city released a statement on Friday – just one day before the Nov. 4 deadline – saying 718 people in the city’s largest homeless encampment were offered services by city staff and 585 of those people accepted. The city also opened the “Safe Outdoor Space” this week, which was approved by the city council in September.
The city said it added 482 new shelter beds, 362 of which were added in the month of October. Judge Scott Blaney ordered "The Zone" to be cleared out Sept. 20, after downtown residents and businesses filed a lawsuit against the city for not addressing the issue. The City appealed the court order, but was ultimately not successful.
Phoenix city attorneys also said they were worried the ruling to clear 'The Zone' could violate a federal court order that said the city cannot forcibly remove people if they do not have shelter beds available.
But a federal court judge issued a ruling in a second lawsuit against the city, which granted the city more flexibility to enforce "camping or sleeping bans" against unsheltered people.
The judge then amended the order in October stating, the city cannot enforce "the Camping and Sleeping Bans against involuntarily homeless persons for sleeping in public if there are no other public areas or appropriate shelters where those individuals can sleep."
The "public areas" represent the biggest change from the previous ruling.
In a count in September 2023, the population in the encampment area dipped below 500 for the first time in several months. At its peak, the population in "The Zone" was more than 1,000 people living on the streets.
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