Homeless in RI: Pawtucket highway encampment vacated with help, area cleaned, services readied

NEW: Emmanuel House confirms “the Diocese of Providence is assisting the RI Secretary for Housing and his team in finding a permanent housing solution for the men [who had been living in Pawtucket overpass area]. We are providing any additional help we can in order to assist in this endeavor.”

Spokesperson goes on to say: “The diocese has for a long-time been leading real efforts to alleviate homelessness in Rhode Island, all of which is made possible by the Catholic Charity Appeal.”

Somewhere between 5 and 10 people had been living at different times in the area of an overpass in the nearby downtown Pawtucket area. The area had been deemed dangerous to drivers and to the individuals because of the steep slope down to a lane of highway traffic. Accumulated trash had grown as well over the months.

Some media members – notably NBC10 and WPRO Radio had interviewed a few of the men who were living there who acknowledged they wanted to be close to where they panhandled and they did not feel safe going to a shelter. One person – Jay – said it wasn’t safe in a shelter and belongings would be stolen.

At least two cleanups of the area were done by local legislators and volunteers, each time red sterile buckets of needles were collected.

10 days ago the city of Pawtucket and the state of Rhode Island “served” the occupants with a one page eviction notice telling the residents that they must vacate and their items would be removed after this date – April 3rd at 9am.

At the time the Eviction notice was served, Open Doors RI which operates the permanent homeless shelter on Main Street in Pawtucket said they were prepared to receive whoever wanted to come there, and would provide transportation, a place to sleep and 3 meals a day, plus wrap-around services as well as 30 days free storage for belongings.

This morning NBC10 was broadcasting live from the area. They noted 2 people were still encamped there. Around 8am a white passenger van arrived and helped pack up belongings. The van was from Emmanuel House.

A few hours later a cleaning crew from RI DOT arrived to remove any items left and clean the area. There were plans to block it off so people could not resume living there in the future.

This is a developing story.

Photo, top: Pamela Bhatia, Artistic Images RI