Rhode Island Tent city will have to come down, says city

BY JOSEPH B. NADEAU

WOONSOCKET — The city is moving to have a small tent city for the homeless outside “The River” United Methodist Communities church at 27 Federal Street just off Main Street.

City Zoning Officer Robert Erickson was expected to cite the church group with violating local zoning codes and issue an order demanding the four blue, grey and maroon Hillary dome tents removed from the church courtyard.
“It’s a commercial zone and it’s being used for a somewhat residential purpose,” Joel D. Mathews, city Director of Planning and Development, said when contacted about the city’s move Monday.
The church group had been using the tents to house an overflow of homeless people it has assisted but that effort drew complaints from nearby businesses and property owners, he said.
“Their point is that that this is not allowed under zoning,” he said.
While only a small group of tents, Mathews said the neighboring properties owners believe the camp could be located in a more suitable site than the section of Main Street it currently occupies.
The community already offers assistance to the homeless through several shelter programs operated by local churches and social service organizations including the men’s winter shelter program at the Harvest Community
Church on North Main Street, and the shelter at 179 Sayles Street operated by Family Resources Community Action, Mathews said.
“The River” United Methodist Community has also assisted homeless people with temporary housing and the tent city is a recent offshoot of those efforts, he said.
Unfortunately, the tents are set up next to a busy parking lot and do not offer their residents any sanitary facilities, according to Mathews.
“The zoning officer made an informal visit to the site last Thursday and the church agreed to take them down,” Mathews said.
While two of the tents may have been taken down for a time, on Monday evening all four were set up around a large fir tree in the courtyard.
As a result, Mathews said a letter was to be sent to the church notifying it of the violation and requesting all the tents be removed within seven days.
If the church does not comply, the matter would be turned over the city’s Municipal Court where a judge could issue fines for the violations, he said.
When contacted the city’s cease and desist letter Monday evening, United Methodist Community Pastor Brian Souza said he had not yet received formal notice of the violations but noted that people using the tents last week had moved out of them due to the city’s visit last Thursday.
“We were visited by the city’s zoning officer last Thursday and he told my staff we were in violation of the city’s zoning ordinances and couldn’t have people living in tents and we immediately complied,” he said.
The tents remain at the site simply as a statement that the city does have many people without homes, Souza said.
Souza said he did not want to make a political statement but does believe attention should be called to the growing problem of homelessness in the area.
“We’re leaving the tents up in solidarity with the homeless,” he said.
The church has given out sixty tents to people looking for help with living arrangements and that is an indication that sixty people or more are currently without permanent homes in the area.
While tents maybe just a temporary solution to the problem, Souza said a tent encampment, whether is located at his church or in Providence at Hope City, does afford homeless people with a sense of security they might not have living alone in the woods.
“It is a safe place where they can look out for each other,” he said. Most such temporary housing encampments cropping up around in the country under the economic downturn are self-policed by their residents and afford social service agencies and volunteer groups the opportunity to provide services to people at a single location, he noted.
While the United Methodist Community encampment may not be the solution to the problem of homelessness in the area, Souza said it does show a need exists and that there should be more discussion on the topic.
“I think we need to hold a forum on how we are going to deal with this problem,” he said.
The church is already trying to help as are a number of other churches and organizations in the area, he said. His own parish operates a mobile food truck and a day program for people in need in the church basement, he said. The church has a number of people in its congregation who have lost jobs and homes in the recent downturn who don’t know what to do, he said.
“This is the first time it has happened to them and they are frightened,” he said.
The tents will come down, Souza said, but he hasn’t made any decision on when.
The Pastor said Monday he had just returned from a conference and had not yet received the city’s letter ordering the encampment’s removal. “I just want to see what the city is requesting,” Souza said.
“We can’t keep anyone in the church and what we are trying to do is get them a safe place to live somewhere else,” he said.