Cities are razing homeless camps across US. Advocates want New Bedford to build one. - The Boston Globe (2024)

“They seem to think we don’t have a homelessness problem,” Cordeiro said. “Well, yeah, you do.”

Some local advocates agree. They point to the scores of people living in a few dozen camps set up under bridges, in abandoned buildings, and in woodlands. So as cities across the country, empowered by a recent Supreme Court decision, move to tear down homeless encampments, the advocates have proposed that New Bedford do the opposite: build one of its own.

“We need to be proactive,” said Carl Alves, who leads a coalition of local nonprofits that support homeless residents. “I’m seeing significant increases in the number of people [who] don’t have places to call home or a place to stay.”

The debate in New Bedford comes as the nation faces a homelessness crisis. More than 650,000 people were homeless on a single night in 2023, the highest number since 2007, according to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. That same survey recorded about 19,000 people in Massachusetts who were homeless.

In June, the Supreme Court ruled that cities have the power to enforce bans on encampments. Even before the ruling, some Massachusetts communities had already dismantled camps, including Boston and Salem. In California, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday ordered the dismantling of homeless encampments, in a state long known for its large homeless population.

In New Bedford, where about a fifth of residents live below the poverty line and where some people have stayed in shelters for up to a year, the city-run encampment is envisioned as a place where homeless people could live safely.

The effort is backed by the nonprofit coalition led by Alves. They presented their plan to the City Council’s Affordable Housing and Homeless Affairs Committee last month, calling for the city to provide residents with food, clean water, medical care, bathrooms, and the stability needed to work more closely with local social service agencies.

The camp proposal, which remains in its very early stages, would likely begin with tents but proponents want to explore converting unused buildings, such as old schools or churches, into shelters, according to Alves.

The proposal would need to be approved by the City Council and Mayor Jon Mitchell, Alves said. Families with children and unattended minors would not live at the camp, Alves said.

“We can’t wait around to do nothing,” said the Rev. David A. Lima, executive minister with the Inter-Church council of Greater New Bedford and another proponent of the plan. “These people have value in God’s eyes.”

The idea has been met with skepticism from Mitchell, who last year rolled out a plan to create more affordable housing in this historic port city of 101,000, including apartments for residents with low incomes, and launched a comprehensive study intended to help guide a regional response to addressing homelessness. The results from that study are due by the end of summer.

“The recent record of cities that have sanctioned encampments is that they tend to make it more difficult for those they are intended to serve to emerge successfully from homelessness,” said the mayor’s spokesperson, Jonathan Darling. “In practice, they have been arguably inhumane.”

Proponents caution a city-authorized encampment would not resolve the homelessness issues alone. More shelter beds and funding for additional support services are needed, but those steps will take time. And speed is of the essence to meet the immediate crisis, they said.

“We’re at a loss here because we don’t know what else to do,” said Shane Burgo, a councilor at large who serves as chair of the homeless affairs committee and supports the proposed camp.

Opponents of encampments argue that they can be unsafe and put residents at a higher risk of violence. In some communities, such as Salem, residents complained about trash and unsightly conditions.

Balakrishnan Rajagopal, an MIT professor who serves as the United Nations’ special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, said opening a camp would put people living there at risk from threats such as illness and violence.

He said that’s what happened at San Diego’s “safe sleeping” sites for homeless residents, where local media reported four people had died since the city opened the first of two encampment sites in June 2023, including one man who overdosed.

Homelessness poses challenges that are beyond the ability of cities such as New Bedford to handle on their own, he said, requiring interventions from the state and federal government to provide more funding for programs including housing vouchers.

“You cannot solve structural problems by coming up with Band-Aid solutions. . . . And unfortunately, it’s a Band-Aid that doesn’t even work properly and doesn’t cover the wound,” Rajagopal said.

Joyce Tavon, chief executive of the Massachusetts Housing & Shelter Alliance, agreed that an encampment could put residents at risk, including making mental health and addiction issues worse.

“I appreciate they are in a crisis right now,” Tavon said. “It’s like you’re going to war, like you’re faced with, ‘What’s the least bad option?’ ”

As a temporary measure, a city-operated encampment could serve a vital role in connecting homeless residents with necessary services, said Dr. Jessie Gaeta, a physician with Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program.

“Temporary help that includes a sanctioned sleeping area where you can build more infrastructure and help is important for communities to consider doing,” Gaeta said.

The controversy over the encampment proposal comes as New Bedford, which has seen its fortunes ebb and flow during its long history, is poised for a renaissance. It’s home to the country’s most valuable fishing port, which generates more than $11 billion in economic activity, and to an assembly facility for off-shore wind turbines. Its downtown has seen an influx of new restaurants and businesses, while the MBTA commuter rail is expected to begin service between the city and Boston next year.

But a rising tide has not lifted all boats. The city’s median household income is about $54,000 — nearly half the statewide figure of about $96,000, according to census data. About a third of its Hispanic residents live below the poverty line, along with a fifth of Black and Asian residents, according to a city report.

Danielle Brown, director for Project FAIHR, which serves the area’s homeless residents, said not enough is being done to get people off the streets. Those living outdoors who are warned by activists to leave one place simply move somewhere else.

“It’s like I’m the hamster on the wheel, that’s the best way to put it,” Brown said.

On a recent Monday, Brown visited Cordeiro’s campsite. They made plans for Brown’s team to return with supplies, including food and bandages.

Cordeiro said she doesn’t think leaders will change things in New Bedford. But she appeared to hold out hope that they might. Cordeiro paused briefly when asked what she’d tell the mayor.

“Recognize your homeless, and help them,” she said.

John Hilliard can be reached at john.hilliard@globe.com.