Residents of the Tent City homeless community have been served eviction notices following a stabbing last week, but no housing alternatives have been offered for the mini-city's nearly 200 inhabitants.
The eviction will be enforced starting 9 a.m. on Thursday.
There are more than 1,600 homeless people in Gainesville, with 300 beds available on any given night in shelters, many of them already filled by women and children.
Amanda Gunn, a local Faces of Homelessness spokeswoman, points out several realities about the eviction.
"There's no giant YMCA to let them camp out and no storage units for their stuff, which breaks my heart to be honest," she said.
She talked about a Tent City man who built a house with insulation, a kitchen and a bedroom all from scraps he found at a construction site.
But the self-proclaimed mayor of Tent City can't take his home with him, just as many residents can't carry everything that they own on their backs.
"There are a lot of personal items they are just expected to walk away from," Gunn said.
In addition to the possible loss of possessions, some Tent City residents have recently lost pets to a different threat.
Toss, a 4-month-old dog, was ripped apart by a 6-foot alligator on Monday morning, which has taken up residence in a stream running through Tent City.
The dog's carcass was found floating in the stream.
Despite the hazards of the forest, Tent City is the only home that many residents have, said Rod, a member of the homeless community.
Eviction notices came after Kenneth Griffin, 65, stabbed two Tent City residents, damaging one of their lungs. Griffin had recently been released from jail after serving 40 years for two killings and a manslaughter charge.
"The owners used to help Tent City and allow it to be in peace and harmony," said Dan Griggs, a volunteer with HomeVan, a local homeless-aid organization. "But the stabbing messed up a lot of stuff."
However, Gainesville Police Department spokesman Keith Kameg said the eviction is about more than one incident.
"It's not just about the stabbing," Kameg said. "This is not a healthy or safe environment. The owners have a genuine concern for the people and don't want to see people get hurt."
Crime has also increased in the area, according to Kameg. Drugs are being sold, prostitution has taken a foothold and stolen property is being taken to the area, he said.
One resident thinks GPD convinced the owners to evict the residents of the north side of Tent City to combat the growing drug problem there.
"By law GPD can't come to arrest people for drugs on private property without a warrant," Rod said. "But if [they] get the people out, they can get to the drugs."
Kameg disagrees, saying that displacing Tent City residents "is not our master plan. Our plan is to keep every resident of the community safe."
Because of Tent City's seclusion, residents open themselves up to being victimized, Kameg said.
"Is that right? No. Is that fair? No. But is that an absolute reality? Yes," he said.
But Gunn believes that crime in Tent City is sensationalized.
"Crime happens every day," she said. "Sure it's horrific, but crime is going to happen in any part of Gainesville."
Kameg said that there are no easy solutions."It is easy to blame police," he said, "but enforcement is not the total solution."
And several homeless advocates agree.
They believe more city involvement in terms of affordable housing, shelter, food and development programs are part of a total solution.
Michael Stoops, director of the Washington D.C.-based National Coalition for the Homeless, was critical of Gainesville's attitude toward homeless people.
"The city of Gainesville is not sheltering or feeding all of its homeless population, so the homeless have no other choice but to live in Tent City," he said.
He recommends allowing grassroots programs to provide services and leadership development for the homeless.
Within the next month, the coalition will release its Criminalization of Homelessness Report, which rates the cities with the worst homelessness support, and Gainesville makes the list, he said.
Tent City residents who asked the city for help were referred to the Office of Homelessness for a place to go, but according to Gunn, there is no place for the displaced residents to go.
"From my perspective, there's not much city support," she said. "There's no funding for all of these people. At least Tent City was a place for them to go."
Gunn said she believes that there is an impending crisis due to the uprooting of Tent City.
"I'm really frightened," she said. "I believe we are going to see a massive influx of the homeless population in the jail system."
"They're going to be in a really desperate state now that they were uprooted from their home, " she said.
Some homeless people the will commit small crimes such as petty theft in order to find shelter when desperate. Even if that shelter is a jail cell, she said.
"Alachua County Jail numbers are going to rise," she said.
"The city and community are going to be quite shocked when they see a random, immense number of homeless people walking around the city," she said. "The [city] population is very closed off from these things because of the large UF population."
Gunn said she foresees a lot more problems and sickness due to the expected overcrowding of the south side of Tent City.
"There are people that have nine to five jobs and go home to Tent City because they can't afford housing, which can sometimes cost up to $2,000 a month."
Currently the St. Francis House, which feeds and houses area homeless, has 35 beds and has already reached the limit.
"I'd certainly be able to accommodate 60, 70, 80 if I needed to under the emergency shelter rule," said Kent Vann, executive director, "but that needs to be approved by the city."
As of Tuesday evening Vann had not heard from the city.
"I hope the city has an alternative for these people," he said.
The owner of the property, Calton Dental Lab, 119 SE 11th Ave., declined comment.
