Maurice Smith: The Story of Camp Hope
On 7/29/2022, Maurice Smith <risingrivermedia@gmail.com> writes:
Good morning,
Let me begin with a quick story. Camp Hope, where 623+ individuals experiencing homelessness currently reside, began on Tuesday, December, along the banks of the Spokane River at a place outreach workers (and law enforcement) know as "Trent & Waterworks.”
Law Enforcement had announced that the 30+ tents, and even more people, would be swept on that day, warrant checks would be performed, and everything would be moved. That threat which didn't materialize (I was there filming, expecting the announced sweep) led to a decision to stage a peaceful protest on the sidewalk at City Hall on Friday, December 10. That peaceful protest was given 48-Hour Notices to vacate on Monday the 13th (you'll see it in our upcoming documentary).
The residents of the Camp at City Hall then moved to the WSDOT property and became what we now know as "Camp Hope 2.0". In other words, Camp Hope is the DIRECT result of the City of Spokane's forced evictions and sweeps of people experiencing homelessness with no place to go.
Camp Hope, the largest sustained homeless encampment in the State of Washington, represents the painfully visible and tangible evidence of a failed homeless policy that has consistently denied the size and reality of true homelessness in our community.
Of the 823 unsheltered homeless identified in the 2022 Point In Time Count, 623 of them (or 75%) currently reside at Camp Hope. For this reason alone, the Camp is a daily reminder of a homeless policy that isn't working.
It should come as no surprise that the current Administration has tried for 6 months to shut the camp down, pressuring WSDOT to remove it (with nowhere for the residents to go), recently attempting to cut off privately supplied water to the camp, and now attempting to shut down a cooling tent because it isn't part of the Administrations plan to use libraries as cooling centers. Really? 623 homeless individuals all descending on the Liberty Park Library (1 mile away). Did they learn nothing from what happened at the Convention Center when 469 (according to the operator whom I spoke with personally) people filled that space?
Please take the time at some point today to read this article from Range Media that pretty well sums up the machinations currently underway to shut down a cooling tent set up specifically to address the unique needs of the residents of Camp Hope.
I love the comment by one Council member who expressed concerns about how allowing this cooling tent to stand might impact "precedence." Yes, there's a genuine danger that by doing the right thing we might set a precedent of having reasonable discussions about homeless policy, a precedent of showing compassion toward the homeless, hungry, thirsty, and marginalized, a precedent of extending grace and mercy toward those who we don't think deserve it but who desperately need it, a precedent of demonstrating unconditional love toward people deemed unloveable by most of our community, a precedent of being the better community we've always talked and dreamt about becoming. And who in their right (or left) mind would want to set such dangerous precedents for all to see and emulate? God forbid that we should do such a thing.
Spokane Mayor's Office Has Plans to Dismantle Cooling Shelter at Camp Hope
Yours for the Shalom of Our Community,
Maurice Smith
Executive Producer
The Night of the Unsheltered Homeless
The Least of These
The Hidden Homeless (SpIFF Version)
Documentary YouTube Channel
509.475.8797
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