SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, June 22, 2017 (Gephardt Daily) — Posted notices foretold of the cleanup day, and homeless campers on 500 West, between 200 and 400 South, probably spotted the heavy machinery and the workers in yellow and orange vests approaching.
Still, no one is in a hurry to be rousted and told to pack up and leave their home, however temporary and unlawful a home it may be.
Resigned, the packed begin moving and the formerly unmoved begin packing.
Dale Keller, Salt Lake County Environmental Health bureau manager, doesn’t love this part of his job either, but he finds it necessary.
“Encampment is illegal pursuant to regulation No. 7, but by far the bigger and more important issue is this is a big-time public- and community-health problem with the garbage and the trash that accumulates — the needles, the fecal matter and those types of things,” Keller told Gephardt Daily.
“And we find that if we don’t come down here on a regular basis, and work with our partners — the police department and Public Works — Â it just becomes almost impassible and just an awful mess.”
Every two weeks, about two days after notices are posted, crews arrive to ask the homeless to gather their things and move on. They take care to treat homeless people civilly, Keller said.
The homeless always return, of course, but their temporary absence gives workers a chance to pick up syringes and any needles missed by an early group of volunteers. Crews shovel refuse and human waste, and remove it from the area.
“As you can see from the material, garbage and trash are not things that are appropriate to be on a downtown street,” Keller said.
“We will find several hundred (needles) on an average sweep when we do a cleanup… Two weeks ago, 400 to 500 needles were picked up in a couple three-block areas. And it’s not so much the ones you see, it’s the ones you don’t see that in my mind are more problematic. And that’s why you’re seeing staff using hand tools and those sorts of things. We don’t want to deal with a needle stick and the long term ramifications of that.”
Multiple governmental and volunteer organizations work to help members of the homeless community, Keller said.
“You don’t know who they are, but there’s a handful of social workers here right now, picking up pieces with information regarding housing, substance abuse, that type of thing,” he said. “That’s always an important piece when we’re dealing with this issue.”
Nicholas Rupp, Salt Lake County Health spokesman, said it’s important to remember that the people camped on either side of the road and in the grassy median are experiencing homelessness.
“We want to make sure that they have opportunities for treatment, for housing, whatever it is they might need, so we work with our community partners,” Rupp said. “The Utah Community Action Program comes around with information about housing referrals, abuse, mental health. We do that in advance, so those opportunities are available.”
Encampment cleanup is not something most people associate with the Heath Department, Keller said.
“Normally, we do the restaurant inspections and the immunizations and all of the more stereotypical things you think of the Health Department for,” he said.”But we are also regulators, so when there’s a compelling public health reason like this, then we have the authority to come in and say, ‘OK, this is not acceptable.'”
Campers began to clear out, packing backpacks and blankets, carrying children or rolling bicycles. With backhoes and dump trucks in place, the workers in the brightly colored vests moved in to begin their task.
“We post, and partner with our friends in Salt Lake City or West Valley or wherever the problem might be, and we will come in, but again, doing so with a sense of civility, giving people a chance to move on,” Keller said.
“We get that we’re not correcting the problem here. We’re cleaning up trash today and making sure it’s somewhat OK.”
