TACOMA, Wash. — The City of Tacoma has been using boulders, benches and fences to try to stop people from setting up encampments on city sidewalks and streets.
“It is definitely making people move somewhere else but the challenge is folks don’t really have a place where they can go," Rob Huff, a spokesperson from Tacoma Piece County Coalition to End Homelessness, said. “On any given night, there might be between 5-10 shelter spaces open right, and the number of people being displaced by this activity is significantly higher than that.”
Since October of 2022, the city has installed more than a thousand rocks in nearly two dozen places. It has also spent $163,000 on the boulders. The boulders, fencing and benches are what Huff calls hostile architecture or hardening of a community. He thinks the money could be put to better use.
“Even $163,000 could be used to help keep people out of homelessness. I get emails every day from people about to get evicted. If they had three or four thousand to catch up on their rent, they wouldn’t be homeless at the end of the month," he said.
Yine Loyola and her kids attend a play group at one of Tacoma's parks. She said she's noticed more and more boulders being installed across the city to prevent people from setting up camp.
“I understand the city trying to do its best using things like putting boulders in, designing to prevent encampments and things like that but that’s only one part of dealing with it," Loyola said. She thinks this approach isn't getting to the root of the problem, just pushing it around.
“It’s just like moving the problem around," she said.
Huff said the solution to homelessness isn't rocks or uncomfortable benches. It's more affordable housing and shelter space.
“There are likely 2,000 or more people on any given night who can’t fit in our shelter system, who just have to figure it out on the streets," Huff said.