‘We don’t call them tents. We call them homes.’ Homeless encampment near Garner evicted.
Outside the tent, Brandy stands near a Spectra breast pump box.
She’s seven-months pregnant with a baby girl and homeless.
“We’re just trying to survive,” she said Tuesday morning. “We just need help. They’d rather put us out than help us. What are we supposed to do?”
Brandy’s been homeless for two years and has lived in the “Welcome to Garner” encampment — named for a nearby sign — for six months. She was one of the first people to take up residence in a small patch of land and trees at the intersection of Highways 70 and 401 in the state transportation right-of-way.
At the border of Garner and Raleigh, the encampment has grown to more than a dozen tents in recent months, drawing complaints from some Wake County residents. Last week, the Raleigh Police Department taped notices ordering those living there to vacate by 10 a.m. Tuesday.
“Over the past two weeks, law enforcement has deemed the area unsafe due to a recent uptick in criminal activity,” according to a statement from the N.C. Department of Transportation. “NCDOT allowed Southeast Community Officers to visit the location on Friday and post Notice to Vacate signs around the property, as well as speak with several of the campsite residents to inform them of the trespass notice.”
The Raleigh Police Department has not responded to an emailed list of questions sent by The News & Observer on Tuesday morning.
Nonprofits, including Oak City Cares, Healing Transitions and Food Not Bombs, were there with trucks to help carry items away, trash bags to clean up the area and bagged sandwiches and water bottles.
US Supreme Court weighing anti-camping laws
Several people who came to help residents leave Tuesday pointed to the case before the U.S. Supreme Court that could decide whether local laws penalizing people for sleeping in public could continue.
“We keep getting kicked out. We keep getting pushed out,” said a man who goes by Wild Horse and is the so-called mayor of the encampment.
“We collect stuff, and we put them in our homes,” he explained. “We don’t call them tents. We call them homes.”
Shortly before 10 a.m. Tuesday Brandy was still packing up her stuff. the tent and her belongings belongs laid out nearby. She’s not sure where she’ll go, but she knows she doesn’t want to be arrested.
“I’m beyond excited (to be pregnant),” Brandy said. “But I’m just sad I have to bring her into this world like this. But it’s the world we live in.”
Reporter Richard Stradling contributed to this report.
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