The fate of those who live in the Pines encampment in the Commons area is an issue that has raised concern from many who live in Traverse City. It was recently announced that the Traverse City police department is planning to remove the unhoused people who are living in the encampment through the enforcement of an existing anti-camping ordinance that classifies overnight camping in a park as a civil infraction. This means that violators will be fined for camping in a public space, and can even be committed to jail for refusing to pay.

 

Such laws are allowed on a national level under the precedent of Grants Pass v. Oregon, a Supreme Court case that was decided in June. The case establishes that anti-camping ordinances do not violate the “cruel and unusual punishment” clause of the eighth amendment, meaning that similar ordinances and laws against camping on public property can continue to be created and enforced by local governments. On Nov. 24, activists, community members, and residents of the Pines came together to discuss the evacuation and ways the community can help the unhoused people.

 

The event was held in Veterans Memorial Park, and included hot food and all kinds of donated resources for residents of the Pines to take. A group discussion, led by local activists Nico Grey and Cam Brown, took place to summarize the goals of the community and gather a consensus from the Pines residents.

 

An anonymous resident of the Pines expressed his experience living in the encampment. “I’ve been here going on two and a half years ... but honestly, this community right here is probably the closest thing to a family that I have.” While there are issues within the forest, many who live there prefer it to other places they have available, even Safe Harbor. Residents have developed a sense of community with each other, and have a sense of autonomy living in their own space with all their belongings that they would lose at a shelter.

 

Scott Wilson, a 42 year old man who lives in the Pines encampment, expressed his thoughts about the situation in an interview. He explained that even if the police have good intentions, dissolving the Pines could have detrimental effects on some of its residents.

 

“As far as I can tell, they’re best plan is just to scatter everyone ... It's like yeah, if you scatter people you’re just gonna be finding bodies in tents months after because no one’s gonna be around to know where to find them and check on them. I don’t know, that doesn’t seem like caring to me,” Wilson said.

 

Even when there isn’t criminal activity going on, the Pines receives a lot of attention from police, social workers, volunteers, and even employees from the Goodwill Inn. Likely many of the people in the Pines who receive care will be hard to find once the forest is evacuated, which could put them in danger of not getting access to the help they need.

 

While crime is an issue within the encampment, there are residents who have a friendly relationship with the police that survey the area. When asked about the behavior of police officers, Wilson expressed that “there’s at least one awesome one who really cares, and I think [the other officers] could learn a lot from her.”

 

Activists for the local homeless population have both short and long term goals when it comes to the housing crisis. “What I think we can do realistically is like, just prevent existence from being made illegal,” expressed event co-organizer Cam Brown. Speakers encouraged concerned citizens to contact local officials about the conflict through emailing or protesting at commission meetings. “The city just wants to sweep it under the rug, they wanna look good, and I think that’s why we gotta start going to these commission meetings and put pressure under their ass,” said Brown.

 

The lack of affordable housing in Traverse City is a concern of local activists too, and they aim to address the root causes of the issue. Nico Grey described more long-term goals, like “community owned housing, putting the power in the people’s hands [so that] it’s the people in the housing owning the housing. [Also] restrictions on short term rentals, that’s something we should really be fighting for.”

 

Both Grey and Brown encouraged participation from the unhoused people who are affected by the conflict, and placed emphasis on keeping Pines residents informed on the situation. “We wanna do ‘know your rights’ training for people. I started reaching out to ACLU to start getting little pamphlets we can hand out to folks in the Pines,” says Grey.

 

While the issue is ongoing, activists are doing everything they can to prevent the evacuation of the Pines and propose a better solution to both police and city commissioners. In the long term, according to Cam Brown, activists want to encourage the idea that “housing is a human right, and that people get ownership of their housing.”