January 2019 - Parks & Recreation - 55

A sleeping burrow formed out of vegetation on a bank of Utah's Jordan River.

vegetation, designed to reduce visible and material cover for those facing homelessness, concerned much
of the park staff, as existing vegetation often enhances the aesthetics of
the park, absorbs urban stormwater
and mitigates soil erosion. The social value of the parks was also
thought to be compromised, as park
infrastructure, such as park benches
and pavilions, provide spaces for
people to gather, build social capital
and rest. The price of short-term responses to homelessness is paid by
the parks, as well as by the housed
and unhoused community members who use them.
Public complaints led to high
frequencies of responses to homelessness that were especially harmful to park residents and social
service providers. Depending on
the municipality, evictions often reoccurred every 24 to 48 hours. The
subsequent displacement not only
kept those experiencing homelessness from accessing needed social
services, but also made it difficult
for outreach workers from local social service agencies to locate current and potential clients. In addition, the disposal of belongings by
park maintenance staff burdened
the limited financial resources of
people living in the park.
The loss of belongings forced
those living in parks to repeatedly
purchase or procure more blankets,
clothes and supplies needed to survive the outdoor elements, instead
of conserving money for housing,
healthcare and/or personal expenses. One park resident paced while
expressing his frustration with frequent cleanups. " I don't know where
to put this stuff, " he says. " [I need
somewhere to keep it] so I can go to

work, you know. I'm always pulling
this stuff around because I get tired
of having to go get clothes and blankets and tents. It's expensive. "
This ongoing cycle contributes
to park resident homelessness, as
fears of belonging loss maintains
homelessness for many people. Fear
of losing belongings keeps many
from seeking out employment or
social services that would help to
resolve their state of homelessness.
Park management indicated in our
interviews that it was generally unaware that short-term, symptomatic
responses to homelessness unintentionally prolong instances of homelessness in public parks.
Resolving the complex issues associated with homelessness in parks
requires time, understanding and
collaboration. A focus on resolving the causes, as opposed to the
symptoms, of homelessness may
substantially reduce the prevalence
of unsheltered homelessness in
parks. Nearly all the people living in
the park desired housing and were
not content with residing in public
parks. One resident shared how social service outreach workers helped
her find housing off of the parkway.
" I remember the first time [outreach workers], " she shares. " They
come up and right away announced
'we're [outreach].' It's not the police, so I just sat there for a minute,
and I thought should I say something. So, I said, 'Okay I'm getting
dressed,' [and] they're like, 'we'll

wait.' So they took me to [transitional housing]. I had an apartment
for five or six years. " Years later, she
only returned to the parkway after
subsequently losing housing.

A Person-First Approach
A person-first approach, both sympathetic and problem-oriented,
is helpful for engaging with folks
living through homelessness. Most
park managers believe that fully
addressing the causes of homelessness is complex and outside the
scope of recreation professionals.
Doing so would require substantial collaborative efforts with social service providers. However,
transitioning people into housing
often takes time, and social service
providers use progressive engagement when interacting with those
experiencing homelessness. This
approach allows outreach workers
to build trust through a series of
interactions over a period of time,
while working to secure housing.
A social service provider explains
that usually " we have a 24-hour
window before a cleanup and [park
residents] are going to be gone in 24
hours. I think that really we need a
seven-day leeway so we have some
time to engage with them and actually get some things in place to
make that an easy situation for
them to navigate. " Depending on
the circumstances, housing may
take hours or months to coordinate,
and repeated displacement resulting

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Parks & Recreation

January 2019 - Parks & Recreation

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