Concord's Homeless Population, Advocates Fight Camping Evictions

Members of Concord’s homeless community as well as their friends and advocates held a rally at the Statehouse on May 14 to call for the end of land evictions around the capital city.

In recent weeks, campers have been removed from areas along the railroad tracks near Storrs Street, and other areas around the city, with police citing trespassers. These evictions follow the removal last year of a number of homeless people from the camp previously located behind the Everett Arena.

At the rally, both advocates and members of the homeless community called on city and state leaders to either find them access to affordable housing or allow them to camp on land somewhere in the city.

The Rev. Jonathan Hopkins said he and other church leaders were upset that the homeless have not been allowed to return to the lands to gather their tents and personal items.

“Those are tents that our church gave out ... our money, out of our budget ...so we could have those tents,” he said. “We need to give back those tents!”

Marcia Sprague, the director of the Concord Homeless Resource Center, noted that for years, there were no problems with the homeless campers. But last year, “a series of unfortunate events” prompted both local and state law enforcement to remove campers from the Everett Arena and other areas, she said.

Those events included the drowning of a man by unknown causes in April 2012, an axe attack and a drowning in July 2012, and a violent fight between two men in October 2012.

Sprague said last year, campers were given a week to find another place to go. But this time, campers were only given 24 hours notice to leave, which forced them to make a choice between leaving or packing up without finding a new place to leave.

“When they went back, they were unable to get their belongings,” she said. “What impact has this made on the people who are homeless? People are finding new locations in the woods, wherever they’re going, and they’re not telling anyone where they are going. They shoo their fellow homeless person away, because they want to have a place that is going to be quiet and secure and not a lot of trouble.”

Attorney Barbara Keshen, with the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union, is suing to allow the campers to stay on the lands, in order to make sure that they have someplace to stay and live with dignity and humanity.

“We’re going into court and see if the court will listen to the voice of the people,” she said, adding that the court hearing will be held at 3 p.m. on May 20, in Superior Court.

A number of people who are homeless spoke about the impact of moving and the difficulty finding shelter.

One, Wendell, a registered sex offender, who was convicted of aggravated sexual assault of 1985 and 1993, against victims under 13, said he felt that authorities shouldn't be "pushing us around, like kids," and should ask permission before making the campers move.

"Get us back to where we belong," he said. "It's not right. A lot of people got cars, they can travel. But people like us, on foot can't travel." 

Another man, David, said it wasn’t easy being homeless and most people hoped that the homeless would get the tools and services they need. He called for cooperation and collaboration, to make positive change.

“The state should not be evicting people from state lands if the state is not giving them a place to live,” he said.

Shawn, another homeless man, said he wasn’t homeless previously, but later lost his job, his apartment, and his car, and hasn’t been able to find work. He said the perception that all the homeless were drunks and drug addicts was false and they were only begging for money because they didn’t have any other options.