As of Wednesday night, the evicted residents of Tent City still have not been provided with an alternative place to stay.
Jayne Moraski, City of Gainesville/Alachua County Office on Homelessness director said the eviction came suddenly. She had no time to find a place for the 100 to 200 people who have to be out by 9 a.m. today, she said.
"We only had six days notice, and two were over the weekend. I can't pull a miracle out of a hat," she said.
Starting today, anyone found on the property will be arrested for trespassing.
"If they don't want them under parks and trees, then they should provide funding to organizations dealing with the homeless or build a place for them," said Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.
"Don't arrest them unless you provide a place for them to go," Simon said.
The city is working toward providing more beds to the homeless with the One-Stop Homeless Center project, which is an estimated 18 to 24 months away from completion.
On June 4, at a City Commission meeting lasting more than eight hours, Commissioner Jack Donovan suggested that people think of the homeless, and Tent City residents in particular, as refugees and urged the city to provide immediate assistance.
He shared a story of how Mexico City built a place for the refugees of a countryside famine to live.
"They didn't condemn them," he said in the meeting. "It wasn't a great place to live. It was a horrible place to live, but it was a place to live."
Donovan asked commissioners to consider having city staff assess the possibility of moving the evicted residents of Tent City to a former public piece of land that was vacated two years ago.
His motion included turning the land into a temporary campsite with safe water and a bulldozed road system for easier access for a police presence.
Donovan wanted city staff to do a "down-and-dirty" analysis of the level of soil contamination and report back within two to four weeks.
"We aren't going to have anything else for 18 months, and that's a long time," he said.
No other commissioner agreed with Donovan.
Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan said the long and complicated zoning problem concerned her.
City Manager Russ Blackburn said most of the land is a closed landfill site and he doesn't know what is under the ground. He also didn't know how much it would cost or how long it would take to find out.
"As difficult as it may be to say let's keep focusing on that bigger picture future, I urge the commission to keep our resources focused [on the One-Stop Center]," he said.
According to city spokesman Bob Woods, the City of Gainesville has a tentative contract to build the center on 63 acres of land located in the 800 block of Northwest 53rd Avenue.
"This is not just a city problem. This is a community-wide problem. That is why we are working in partnership with Alachua County for the One-Stop Center."
In regards to the eviction, "our intent tomorrow [9 a.m. June 11] is to enforce applicable 'no trespassing' laws and to provide information to those who request assistance," Woods said.
"Is that enough? Probably not. But the City recognizes that, and that's why we're working on a long-term solution," Woods said.
Moraski, however, said she wishes the city had worked on a short-term solution.
"Our shelter system is over capacity," Moraski said. "I can't find a place for them."
Arupa Freeman, a founder of HomeVan, a homeless-aid organization, said the city created this "horrendous situation" by not taking responsibility.
"In my time, if someone was sick or hungry we did something now. We didn't form a committee for five or 10 years," she said.
HomeVan volunteers and community members went to Tent City Tuesday and Wednesday mornings to help some residents move their things to other locations.
According to Freeman, "a bunch of them got together and a rented storage unit using their disability checks, but a lot of them are just going to lose everything."
Freeman had some advice for those working on the homeless issue in Gainesville:
"I think when you oppress people and fear people and isolate people, you are creating hell, and when you love people and include people and take care of people, you're creating heaven," Freeman said.
"Maybe this community needs to decide whether they are creating hell or heaven."
