Puyallup’s homeless wait out the coronavirus pandemic in tents along Riverwalk Trail
With no shelters in the city, those experiencing homelessness in Puyallup have found their own solution: creating a tent encampment and RV site behind Fred Meyer on River Road.
Tents line the Riverwalk Trail, and RVs and cars are parked along 4th Street Northwest leading to the Puyallup Skatepark. At the end of the road in a roundabout, where there are several portable toilets and sinks.
There is no indoor shelter for the homeless to stay in Puyallup. The New Hope Resource Center has handed out camping gear to ensure everyone has personal space during the coronavirus pandemic.
A city spokesperson, Brenda Fritsvold, called the tent encampment “not official” and temporary because of the pandemic.
“In the interest of public health, safety and sanitation, portable restrooms and handwashing stations have been temporarily set up to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus,” the city said in a statement.
The Puyallup Police Department is patrolling the area, Fritsvold said. The city of Puyallup has provided the portable toilets, while the county sent the hand-washing stations. The city added a dumpster and camera surveillance.
The New Hope Resource Center, the only daytime service center for those experiencing homelessness in Puyallup, hands out around 70 lunchtime meals at the skate park.
New Hope has provided more than 50 sleeping bags and 45 tents. Nearly all have been taken.
Director Paula Anderson said she did not tell people to congregate outside of the grocery store next to the Riverwalk Trail. With the city providing few resources for the homeless right now, it just happened, Anderson said.
“It just grew, and the word spread to others,” she said. “It’s not that everyone in the city doesn’t think of the homeless, but nobody really knows what to do. It may be easier for them to not look at the issue.”
Asked for a response to New Hope’s comment, the city did not respond.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department referred comment on the encampment to the city of Puyallup.
If someone sleeping in the encampment becomes sick, New Hope volunteers will take their temperatures and tell them to stay hydrated. When an individual shows COVID-19 symptoms, volunteers drive them to the hospital to be assessed and tested if necessary, Anderson said.
If a COVID-19 test comes back positive, the individual will be taken to the isolation and quarantine center in Tacoma.
Volunteers wear protective gear and disinfect the vehicle. None of those living at the encampment have tested positive for the coronavirus, Anderson said.
Maintaining social distancing standards is a challenge, Anderson said. One person experiencing homelessness who also has mental disabilities felt personally hurt when Anderson told him she could not hug him.
“We are used to being their family,” she said. “It’s hard to be socially distant, because it’s also emotionally distancing from them.”
Tacoma homeless shelters have found additional shelter for those experiencing homeless.
The Nativity House has booked rooms at a downtown hotel for those 60 and older. The Tacoma Rescue Mission partnered with a high school to provide sleeping space in the gym for 50 people every night.
This story was originally published April 2, 2020 at 5:10 AM.
