EP005: The Sweep

You Know Me Now

In this episode of You Know Me Now we’ll be discussing the controversial government policy of sweeps.
If you are not familiar with the term, a sweep is the forced disbanding of a homeless encampment on public property. The act of sweeping is typically performed by a combination of police, tow trucks, dumpster trucks, and any other needed government agency to accomplish the task. For example, when parks are involved, often the Parks Department is included. During a sweep all individuals, regardless of their circumstance or condition, along with all of their personal property, are removed from the area. This is fairly straightforward. Government removing people and belongings from locations where laws have made it illegal to reside. Sweeps are often set into motion when individuals in business and residential neighborhoods complain that the laws are not being enforced. In short, homed individuals reach a tipping point and want something done. This seems reasonable. I think everyone can sympathize with those that have been impacted by a homeless encampment either near their business, out front of their home, or in the park they enjoy. It is clearly unfair that the impact of homelessness should be felt by a few when it is in fact a larger community issue and responsibility.
However, sweeps as a solution have not proven to be an answer to, or even a path towards, addressing homelessness. Yes they provide immediate relief to those being impacted, but the issue itself is not being resolved by sweeping, only swept to a new location where another neighborhood is then impacted. There is a plethora of information around homelessness, including sweeps. Most of it comes in the form of collected data around programs, policies, services, resources, and budgets. What gets missed in all the data is the human being being swept. Nobody is measuring increased levels of trauma, or how many steps back are taken in what is already a difficult path to move forward on for those struggling with homelessness. It is accurate to say, sweeps are conducted to benefit the homed, not the homeless. In a situation where people are illegally living on public land, why should our policies and programs be structured to benefit them? What’s wrong with sweeps just benefiting those living legally? To quote many folks living outside, when told to ‘move along’, they will answer, “Move along to where?” One of the fundamental flaws with sweeps is that there is no safe place to be swept to. All the land is spoken for. When housing is offered often it ends up being unavailable or unsuitable to that person’s real needs.

It is also important to remember that each person living on the street has a profound and true story of why they are there. Nobody just chooses homelessness. Often, beginning very early in childhood, some form of trauma is experienced, knocking them off their life path. While most of us move forward on our journey, working to fulfill our hopes and dreams, those who have been traumatized spend a great deal of time just getting back to the start line, just trying to survive. For this reason alone we owe it to those struggling on our streets.

If we are going to address homelessness in a meaningful way, our programs need to also fit the needs of the homeless, not just the homed. Our actions must be thoughtful and sensitive to not only do no harm, but to also actively provide paths forward. This begins by listening to those living on our streets.
In this episode you will hear from people who have recent, first hand experience of what it's like to be swept. Also we talk to a few very passionate folks from Stop the Sweeps Seattle, a mutual aid group who advocate for services over sweeps.

We hope you join in on the conversation on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/goodoldlistening/

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