It seems a lot of private residents want a magic trick to happen, and with that trick they think it will make the unhoused people who have been camping on State and River streets vanish from Aberdeen.

But as Steve McAllister tells it, that wish isn’t going to come to fruition overnight. McAllister is unhoused and his home, which was just south of the railroad tracks next to River Street, is no longer.

“There should be somewhere for us to go,” McAllister said. “We can’t magically appear somewhere. If I had a place to go, I wouldn’t be here.”

On Wednesday morning, city staff — with help from nonprofits, Aberdeen Police Department, Grays Harbor County Sheriffs Office, Department of Corrections and more — got to work at 8 a.m., to clear the River Street encampment of the people, their tents and other items there.

The unhoused population there was given notification more than a month ago and had received additional notices before Wednesday’s clearing, according to Aberdeen Police Cmdr. Steve Timmons.

“(It) was known that today was the day we were gonna clean it up,” Timmons said about city’s clean-up Wednesday. “We got down here to make sure the city crew’s safe. So far there have been no issues, everybody’s been cooperative, it’s going good.”

While there was a protester filming who was wearing a shirt that said “KNOW JUSTICE, KNOW PEACE,” with “NO” in each word standing out, the people cleaning up didn’t seem affected by the protester’s presence.

The date and time for the cleanup hasn’t changed at all, according to Timmons. It’s been the same since the first notification.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s Grants Pass decision made a cleanup like this possible.

“In a 6-3 ruling, the court said that municipalities may enforce ordinances against sleeping in public spaces,” according to an opinion piece by The Columbian. “The case, Grants Pass v. Johnson, overturned a California appeals court decision that found such laws amount to cruel and unusual punishment when shelter space is lacking.”

On July 3, the Aberdeen City Council voted unanimously to give a 30-day extension to the people who lived down by the tracks near State and River streets. The timeline started July 3. The 30 days ended Aug. 2, but Aug. 7 worked best to coordinate for everyone executing the large-scale operation.

In addition to city of Aberdeen’s crews and Aberdeen EMS, Hoquiam Fire Department was also there to assist.

“It’s all hands on-deck, this is a pretty large event,” Timmons said. “There are a lot of resources here.”

Along with finding a secure and even comfortable place to sleep, some people have more belongings they have to move. That complicates the situation. Everyone needs at least a little security.

A lot of housed people in the area think the possessions unhoused people save is all garbage or mostly garbage. But a lot of the items they save are clothes, family heirlooms and other cherished items. They need time to store the items safely.

“It’s no different than if someone came to your house and said ‘Hey, get out. You have five minutes,’” McAllister said.

McAllister, who is employed as an in-home caregiver, would have been working with his client on Wednesday. He said he works seven days per week.

“But I have to figure out what to do about my stuff,” McAllister said.

A good chunk of the items at the former camp weren’t even brought there by the unhoused. Other people have treated it as a garbage dump. They’ve driven over large hauls and just emptied those hauls into the encampments.

McAllister, and others in the past, have said how people bring broken cabinets and tables. Some items, like VHS tapes, are useless when the people at the camp have no VHS player, television, or electricity. Some people drive to the encampment to “donate” old, moldy food that no one would want to eat nor should they. They bring over old couches and, according to McAllister, someone even brought an old, broken piano. McAllister said the piano that someone discarded there was torn to pieces.

In addition to figuring out where to go, which takes time on its own, housing is a critical issue throughout Aberdeen and most of Grays Harbor County. The issue with housing exacerbates the situation for people. While McAllister has only been at the encampment for a short time, there are other problems.

Even though McAllister is working, he needs to save up a few months for rent in order to secure a place. If rent is $1,000 — most places around here cost more than that per-month — then he needs to save at least $3,000 or more for first month’s rent, last month’s rent and a security deposit. Some security deposits that rental companies require equal a month’s rent. If someone has a pet, that costs even more.

“I’ve got a job, but I can’t afford anywhere else,” said McAllister, who’s single with no children. “I just got here, haven’t been able to save up anything. I can’t move in anywhere, most places you need triple the rent.”

While McAllister’s mom lives nearby, he said she doesn’t have any room there. He said he has also been in contact with The Moore Wright Group.

McAllister spoke about what led to his current circumstances.

“I ended up losing my (last) job and couldn’t pay rent,” McAllister said.

McAllister said he doesn’t use hard drugs.

People assisting the cleanup

While there were people who McAllister could feel were compassionate as they helped clear the camp, he said not everybody was like that on Wednesday.

“You can tell which ones care, which ones don’t,” McAllister said. “You can tell which ones here want to help and which ones don’t want to help.”

McAllister talked about a misconception people have about the unhoused.

“All I know is there are a lot of us out here who don’t choose to be out here,” McAllister said. “If we all had options we would take those. A lot of us don’t know where to begin or where to go.”

As far as moving the unhoused from their former encampment, McAllister sees a problem in that logic.

“I think kicking people out of here is gonna move us downtown,” McAllister said. “ I don’t know what they (the city) expect.”

McAllister said people will move into the alleys, they’ll move over to businesses, “where there is coverage.” Some will move to the parks.

“They’re gonna find wherever they can sleep,” McAllister said. “It’s the only option any of us have.”

Aberdeen City Councilor Scott Prato stopped over at the clean up. He gave a brief comment.

“I’m disappointed we couldn’t come up with a better solution,” Prato said.

Aberdeen Mayor Doug Orr and City Administrator Ruth Clemens have been contacted for comment for this story, but neither responded despite multiple attempts.

Timmons said APD offered to assist people reconnect with family and friends.

“If the family and friends are out of town, we’re happy to assist in getting them relocated to those locations,” Timmons said. “We have some funds available, so we’re willing to do that. We were hoping the course of the (last) month, month-and-a-half, we were thinking they’d have time to utilize the resources to find housing. We don’t have a specific place they can go. It’s just, hopefully we can assist the best we can and find family, friends, or an alternative form.”

Timmons said he doesn’t want to see people living on the streets.

“We’re not heartless,” Timmons said. “We care too. We want them to get some help and not be homeless. So we want to do everything we can, within our power … to find them some place they can go.”

It did not appear anyone returned as of Thursday afternoon.

A quick drive over to the encampment at about 2:30 p.m., on Thursday, showed almost zero activity near the area. No one was under the bridge or next to the railroad track, except for a few people standing underneath the portion of the bridge that is just across from Aberdeen Auto Spa.

Enforcement

Timmons said police will enforce the camping ordinance. Timmons said they encourage property owners to call the police if they spot trespassers and the police would address those issues.

The enforcement, however, is up to the officer’s discretion.

“We’d rather get them help, get them moved along,” Timmons said. “But, if they refuse (to follow our orders) or it’s a repeat offender, someone we’re talking to every single time, we document our contacts. If it’s two or three times, we’re probably going to arrest.”

Timmons said the police are taking “proactive steps” as the unhoused move out of the encampments and into downtown Aberdeen. While no, the criminal issues in Aberdeen are not all by the homeless, there is a problem with theft.

“We’re getting officers out there specifically to work the downtown area at night just to make sure businesses and stuff are safe, in addition to our patrol officers,” Timmons said. “And so we’re kind of anticipating (more activity). But we just have to address it as it comes. But we are taking proactive steps to hopefully deter that from happening.”

Contact Matthew N. Wells at matthew.wells@thedailyworld.com.

Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World Some graffiti on the side of the railroad track that runs along the former unhoused encampment showing how dire it could get for people living under the Chehalis River Bridge. For anyone feeling this way, call the national Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.