WEBVTT TRACKS AND REMNANTS OFTHE HOMELESS CAMP.>> I JUST HAVE TO PACKEVERYTHING UP.REPORTER: FOR RICKY MARTINEZ, ITIS MOVING DAY.HE NEATLY FOLDED HIS FEWBELONGINGS, HIS BLANKET, SHIRTSAND A PAIR OF SHOES.WHERE WILL YOU GO?>> I DO NOT KNOW.MY BUDDY AND I WILL GO LOOK FORA SPOT IN THE WOODS.REPORTER: TO TRY TO GET OUT OFTHE WAY.>> YES, SOMEWHERE PROBABLY INTHE WOODS.CYNTHIA: THE HOMELESS HERE SAYTHIS WAS THE PERFECT SPOT RIGHTNEXT TO THE SHELTER WHERE THEYCOULD SHOWER AND EAT A MEAL.MELISSA O'NEIL SAYS HER BEDS AREFULL INSIDE BUT SHE DOESN'T MINDTHEM OUTSIDEWE ARE HAPPY THAT WE KNOW WHERETHEY ARE AT.THE SECOND THING IS FOCUSING ONTHEM ONE STEP CLOSER TO COMINGIN THE DOOR SO THAT THEY CAN GETTHE SERVICES THEY NEED TO BE AWILL TO GET BACK ON THEIR FEET.THE DEER BUT THE CITY CLEARS ACAMP WHEN IT GETS COMPLAINTS,AND TENT CITIES BECOME UNSAFETHIS TIME OF YEAR.>> ALONG WITH WINTER, NEED TOPROVIDE HEAT, SANITATION, NOT A-- AND THEN WE START SEEING THEMHAVE TAKEN FIRES IN THE CAMP ANDWE HAVE LOSE THEIR LIVES INTHESE CAMPS.THEY ARE NOT A SAFE ENVIRONMENTOR A GOOD SOLUTION TO THEPROBLEM.CYNTHIA: WHILE CITY LEADERSREALIZED MOST WILL SCOUT OUTANOTHER SITE MARTINEZ PRAYS FORA PLACE TO LAY HIS HEAD TONIGHT.>> I TELL GOD THANK YOU FORLETTING ME LIVE ANOTHER DAYI PRAY EVERY NIGHT LET ME LIVEANOTHER DAY, LET THINGS GET
Public Works clears out metro homeless camp
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Updated: 6:31 PM CST Nov 20, 2017
The city of Des Moines took action Monday to remove a homeless camp downtown. Homeless people in tents behind the Central Iowa Shelter and Services near Martin Luther King Junior Parkway were asked to pack up at 7 a.m. as Public Works crews began cleaning up. Homeless people in the area said the camp next to the shelter allowed them to shower and eat a meal. "It makes it really hard when you don't have anywhere to go,” said Matthew Thomas, who lived in the camp. “Like I say, it’s our whole life and house on our back." Thomas said he called a spot near the Central Iowa Shelter his home. "This would be your best space you could find if you had to, and you’re close to a shower and resources,” Thomas said. “And now they’re just moving us further away from those resources." Melissa O'Neil, executive director of Central Iowa Shelter and Services, said the beds are full inside but that she does not mind people camping outside. “We have 150 emergency beds on our first floor, and we sleep around 215 a night right now, which means 65 people are sleeping either in chairs or putting their head down on a cafeteria-style table,” O’Neil said. Now, those who camped outside are scouting out a new site to set up before winter sets in. "It gets cold, and there's people that don't survive the cold ‘cause they don’t know how to get used to it or adapt to it,” Thomas said. But the city clears a camp when it gets complaints, and tent cities become unsafe this time of year. "For whatever reason, they can't go into a shelter or won't go into a shelter, and so they choose to live outdoors, and that has its own set of attendant problems,” Des Moines Community Development director Phil Delafield said. Thomas said those without a home are not without hope. “There's still hope,” Thomas said. “You never lose hope, and as long as you got hope and keep your spirits alive there's nothing you can't go through and survive."
DES MOINES, Iowa — The city of Des Moines took action Monday to remove a homeless camp downtown.
Homeless people in tents behind the Central Iowa Shelter and Services near Martin Luther King Junior Parkway were asked to pack up at 7 a.m. as Public Works crews began cleaning up.
Homeless people in the area said the camp next to the shelter allowed them to shower and eat a meal.
"It makes it really hard when you don't have anywhere to go,” said Matthew Thomas, who lived in the camp. “Like I say, it’s our whole life and house on our back."
Thomas said he called a spot near the Central Iowa Shelter his home.
"This would be your best space you could find if you had to, and you’re close to a shower and resources,” Thomas said. “And now they’re just moving us further away from those resources."
Melissa O'Neil, executive director of Central Iowa Shelter and Services, said the beds are full inside but that she does not mind people camping outside.
“We have 150 emergency beds on our first floor, and we sleep around 215 a night right now, which means 65 people are sleeping either in chairs or putting their head down on a cafeteria-style table,” O’Neil said.
Now, those who camped outside are scouting out a new site to set up before winter sets in.
"It gets cold, and there's people that don't survive the cold ‘cause they don’t know how to get used to it or adapt to it,” Thomas said.
But the city clears a camp when it gets complaints, and tent cities become unsafe this time of year.
"For whatever reason, they can't go into a shelter or won't go into a shelter, and so they choose to live outdoors, and that has its own set of attendant problems,” Des Moines Community Development director Phil Delafield said.
Thomas said those without a home are not without hope.
“There's still hope,” Thomas said. “You never lose hope, and as long as you got hope and keep your spirits alive there's nothing you can't go through and survive."
