City of Tacoma to clear homeless encampment along East 72nd Street
The city of Tacoma will be clearing an encampment on East 72nd Street and East F Street.
On Friday, 72-hour notices were posted on the site with a clean-up date of Tuesday.
There were seven tents at the camp as of Friday. It is located on public right of way, according to city staff.
“On our last visit, there were five individuals present on site,” Allyson Griffith, assistant director for the city’s Neighborhood and Community Services Department, told The News Tribune. “All five were offered services and declined. The Homeless Outreach Team will continue to offer services to individuals until encampment removal is complete.”
The outreach team has frequented the site since November for clean-ups.
The rationale for encampment removal is due to a high probability of a wetland at the site. People living at the encampment have been digging in a waterway there, Griffith said. There also was a 141% increase in calls for service to the area when comparing the first quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2021, combined with a Community Liaison Officer report about escalating violence at the location, including shots fired in the area, Griffith said.
City staff told the Tacoma-Pierce County Homeless Coalition on Friday that TPD recovered three stolen vehicles from the location, and there also has been drug dealing and recent reports of gunfire.
The city of Tacoma has stepped back from clearing encampments since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, citing CDC guidelines that recommend the city prevent potential spread of the virus by not clearing encampments unless they pose a public health risk.
