The city of Phoenix was in court Monday to prove it has met a deadline to clear a large homeless encampment, an action that has drawn pushback from civil rights advocates and additional efforts by government to deal with the issue.

As part of a civil lawsuit, city officials will have a three-day trial to show they have complied with a judge's order and cleaned up the area known as “The Zone,” which is between 7^th and 16^th avenues from Jefferson Street to the railroad tracks. It is just outside the Human Services Campus.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney sided with business owners and residents in June and declared the tent city in south Phoenix a public nuisance.

He also found that while the city was following a law against criminalizing public camping, it arbitrarily enforced others despite health and safety risks. The plaintiffs described having to witness drug activity, lewd acts and other criminal activity in front of their door or steps away from their property.

Late last month, city officials announced additional plans to address homelessness.

The city is adding shelters, dedicating safe outdoor space, creating a specialized court to assist the unsheltered and seeking additional locations to build shelter and resource centers, according to a release. 

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said the latest moves “are part of a larger, concentrated effort to help Phoenicians off the streets and ultimately put them on a path to permanent housing. We will continue investing in both short-term and long-term solutions and services to hopefully put an end to unsheltered homelessness.”  

As an example, the officials cited a council vote to accept $13.3 million in grant funding awarded to the city from the Arizona Department of Housing. It will be used “in support of efforts to address the area around the Human Services Campus and provide shelter services to individuals experiencing homelessness in that area,” the release stated.  

The money will be used, in part, to lease two hotels, serving approximately 50 people each, to provide additional temporary shelter space. The first hotel opened in late May. The second will open in early July.

“The funding will also be utilized to create a safe outdoor space to support our efforts to address the area around the HSC,” the release stated.

“The safe outdoor space will serve people by creating an alternative space to engage with unsheltered individuals to help them prepare to move to an indoor location.”

Like several other major cities, Phoenix has had to balance the concerns of employers and homeowners with respecting the rights of homeless people.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2019 that homeless people cannot be criminalized  for sleeping outside if no alternatives exist.

This civil suit is one of two facing Phoenix.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona stated  in a federal lawsuit that the city is violating the constitutional rights of unhoused people by slowly clearing the area.

U.S. District Court Judge G. Murray Snow, however, declined the ACLU's request in May to declare Phoenix in contempt of a ruling he issued in December. Snow said he would not bar the city from further cleanups at the encampment site pending another hearing.

In the December ruling, Snow ordered the city to refrain from enforcing camping and sleeping bans against people who cannot obtain shelter, nor can their property be seized.

In other moves to address the situation, the Phoenix City Council authorized staff to enter into an agreement with the state to license and ultimately purchase a state-owned property at 1537 W. Jackson St.

The property has indoor space that will be used “as a daytime cooling center for individuals staying in the safe outdoor space during the hot summer months,” officials said in the release.

The city plans to have restrooms, showers and security onsite and services to assist people in ending their homelessness. 

“The safe outdoor space would allow for people to more safely camp in shaded areas with basic necessities,” officials said.

The city proposes to open the location in phases and “will continue to evaluate the need as we work to reduce unsheltered homelessness in the designated area,” according to the release.

In addition, Phoenix officials are working to identify a new site to build a city-owned shelter and resource center.       

The shelter was originally planned for 22nd Avenue and Lower Buckeye Road, but preconstruction work revealed several challenges, including environmental issuses, making the site unsuitable.      

“The Office of Homeless Solutions is urgently focused on identifying a new location for the shelter, which will provide critically needed indoor shelter space in our city,” officials said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.