The Albuquerque City Council unanimously approved a fifth supplemental agreement with Holland & Hart LLP adding $1.6 million for the city's defense in LaDella Williams, et al. v. City of Albuquerque, raising the contract's maximum value to $2.66 million. The city has paid $1.368 million in legal fees and litigation expenses so far and said it has made more than 20 witnesses available for depositions. The class action, filed in December 2022 by unhoused residents over citations, arrests, fines and seizure of belongings during encampment clearings, is funded from the city's Risk Management Fund; the city said it cannot estimate the lawsuit's final cost.
District Judge Joshua Allison certified the case as a class action on Oct. 2, 2025, and the city appealed that decision to the New Mexico Court of Appeals on Oct. 17, 2025.
Durham cleared an encampment at Fayetteville and Pilot streets near the American Tobacco Trail after a police operation on Tuesday that the Durham Police Department called "Operation Safe Passage"; by Wednesday morning all but one person had left. City Manager Bo Ferguson said there had been more than 700 calls for service at the location this year, including two homicides, and officers said they seized two handguns, more than 30 grams of crack cocaine and more than $9,000 in cash. The city said its outreach team had approached people at the site multiple times and that they declined services; advocates quoted by the paper said sweeps criminalize homelessness without addressing housing shortages.
Ferguson authorized clearance of the Oakwood Park encampment in April, and that park was closed and fenced off in July; city data cited by the paper put Durham's homeless population at more than 2,000 people.
The Community Voice · on Kansas City’s Housing Gateway first-year targets and funding
Kansas City’s Housing Gateway, established by the City Council in February with $1 million, set a first-year goal of 600 housing placements, about 400 rapid resolutions for newly homeless people and 200 intensive interventions for long-term homeless people, and has $10.8 million committed toward a $26 million two-year goal, per the Kansas City Business Journal. The program plans to permanently close eight encampment areas in its first phase around greater downtown, the Country Club Plaza and 18th & Vine, and closed its first encampment this month, moving five people into housing. The city said unsheltered homelessness has risen about 168% since 2018 and estimates about 1,750 single adults enter homelessness regionwide each year.
The Royals’ downtown stadium community-benefits agreement, approved by the council in August, committed $5 million of the program’s funding.
Portland.gov (Impact Reduction Program) · on last week's campsite removals and shelter referrals
The Impact Reduction Program removed 140 campsites during September 21-27 and received 1,898 new campsite reports, including 475 reports of people living in vehicles. Assessment teams visited 345 active campsites. 33 people expressed interest in a shelter referral, 13 accepted one, and 3 used a shelter bed for at least one night.
The prior week (September 14-20) the program removed 155 campsites and received 1,524 reports; 15 people accepted referrals and 6 used a bed.
A jury trial opened Monday in an inverse-condemnation suit by two Tower Grove South homeowners who say the City of St. Louis let a Sudanese couple live in a tarp-and-shopping-cart structure on the sidewalk in front of their house for 44 months, from August 2020 until the city tore it down in April 2024. The plaintiffs seek $66,000, the rent they say the property could have earned; Assistant City Counselor Erin McGowan argued the city “was pouring resources to get them off the streets” and formed a task force in 2023. The trial is expected to last three days.
Media coverage at the time reported the couple back on the street at South Spring and Gravois within days of the April 2024 removal.
Los Angeles Fire Department records obtained by ABC7 show 12,241 fires classified as "Homeless or Encampment Related" from January 1 through September 20, about 6% fewer than the same period last year and an average of 47 a day. More than 10,000 were trash fires; the analysis counted 189 vegetation or brush fires, 173 vehicle fires and 153 structure fires, with concentrations along the 10 Freeway corridor and in Skid Row. Mayor Karen Bass's office said in a statement that she has removed more than 140 encampments and that encampment-fire calls are down by more than 800 from this time last year.
ABC7's April analysis of the same LAFD data put the 2025 total at 16,982 homeless-related fires through mid-December, up from 7,165 in 2020.
Oakland crews demolished two tiny homes at an encampment near Peralta and 7th streets during a scheduled closure, structures built by Oakland School for the Arts students almost a decade ago and used by two homeless mothers and their children. City spokesperson Sean Maher said the tow provider could not safely move the trailers with the structures in place, that notices were posted 11 days ahead of a September 21 to October 9 closure window, and that the camp was closed over reports of drug sales and sex work and because it blocked a sidewalk and park entrance. Councilmember Carroll Fife said the site was on her monthly top-five concerns list but that she did not expect the homes to be demolished, and that the camp grew after the city shut a tiny-home shelter a couple of blocks away in the spring.
The city's posted closure operation window for the site runs September 21 to October 9, 2026.
In a "Straight Talk" interview, Mayor Keith Wilson said the city "had always expected to flex down" after opening 1,500 shelter beds in his first year and that "the measure is how many beds we have empty," stating the city has empty beds nightly. Wilson said a central-city count last week found tent encampments down 93% from 2022 and zero RVs on the Sunday night count. A city spokesperson said six city-run overnight shelters remain open, including two in Old Town with beds generally available.
Wichita's housing department delivered letters Wednesday telling residents of the encampment north of Chapin Park, known as "Narnia" or "Tent City," that they lose access to their campsites after October 12, with clearing to begin October 13. City spokesperson Tyler Schiffelbein said more than 80 people lived there per August data, 20 to 25 remain, 18 residents have been housed since January and 16 of those remaining hold housing vouchers while waiting for a rental unit. KSN reported Councilman Joseph Shepard said he did not believe the city's resources could meet demand at the site.
United Way of the Plains put the camp's population at about 100 in KSN's September 25 report, and KSN reported city data showing police responded to the area 69 times in three years.
Portland police said two Central Precinct Neighborhood Response Team officers were assaulted Thursday morning by a man whose camp was being cleared at NW Flanders Street and NW 5th Avenue, where officers were supporting a Portland Solutions camp removal that began at 10 a.m. Both officers were treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, and the man was arrested and then hospitalized for evaluation after injuring himself. The Police Bureau's Major Crimes Unit is investigating as case No. 26-279416.
Portland Solutions is the city office that conducts camp removals under Portland's camping policy.
City records reviewed by KSTP showed the August 5 clearing of the Pig's Eye Park encampment cost approximately $439,746, with more than $333,000 of that tied to contracted cleanup. City Council President Rebecca Noecker said the council was not informed of the total cost beforehand and said, "I don't think it was a success." The city confirmed seven people accepted shelter beds associated with the effort, out of roughly 200 people organizers estimated remained at the site before closure.
The city and Ramsey County had previously committed $2.25 million toward shelter expansion, stabilization beds and case management ahead of the closure.
Portland.gov · on Portland campsite assessments, removals and shelter referrals for the week
The city's Street Services Coordination Center reported receiving 1,524 new campsite reports for the week of September 14-20, including 364 reports of people living in vehicles. Teams assessed approximately 640 reported campsites, visited 356 active campsites and removed 155 campsites the city said posed a risk to health and safety. Of 35 people who expressed interest in a shelter referral, 15 accepted and 6 used a shelter bed for at least one night.
Berkeley cleared much of the Harrison and Eighth streets encampment in the Gilman District this week after nearly two years of court battles, with police and city workers arriving Tuesday following a Friday notice. An attorney for residents said seven people are legally exempted from removal until they receive disability accommodations, and within days at least one resident had returned while others moved to neighboring streets. City Manager Paul Buddenhagen told council members the city has already received "numerous" complaints about people relocating to nearby streets.
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen allowed the sweep to proceed but has ordered Berkeley to evaluate areas where homeless residents say they would prefer to build encampments.
Renovation of the city-owned Comfort Station building in Logan Square Park began, with a construction fence scheduled to go up Monday requiring people living in four tents beside it to relocate. Ald. Anthony Quezada said about five people now live in the square area, down from about 10 earlier this year, and three people who lived in the square have been connected to housing since the start of summer. The work is set to last through at least May 2027.
A nearby encampment at Milwaukee Avenue and Logan Boulevard was cleared in June 2026 ahead of construction of a public plaza.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan announced city data showing the unsheltered population fell 32% over 18 months, from about 5,400 people in February 2025 to about 3,700 in August 2026, measured by a new model that uses 15 data points and can be run at least quarterly. Mahan attributed the decline to encampment cleanups, no-re-encampment zones and emergency housing alternatives; an advocate quoted in the story questioned the claims.
The city's model estimated 1,500 more unsheltered individuals than the county's point-in-time count.
Austin's Homeless Strategies and Operations department reported spending $719,361 on its Homeless Encampment Management initiative between May 11 and June 5, with 62% — nearly $450,000 — going to staff salaries. Teams made 456 visits to 127 distinct encampment locations and connected 35 people to shelters and nine to supportive services, and 28% of cleared sites saw encampments again within 30 days, according to the department's data.
The article's headline figure is $716,000; the spending total reported in the body, attributed to the department, is $719,361.
The city received 1,554 new campsite reports, including 387 reports of people living in vehicles, assessed approximately 648 reported campsites and removed 144 campsites during the week of September 7-13. Of the people teams contacted, 28 expressed interest in a shelter referral, 11 accepted referrals and 3 used a shelter bed for at least one night.
The prior week's report (August 31-September 6) recorded 1,758 new campsite reports and 146 campsites removed.
The Columbian reported that lost, stolen or discarded identification documents keep homeless Vancouver residents from qualifying for housing, employment and benefits, citing a 2024 U.S. Government Accountability Office report that found a majority of homeless people surveyed lack a safe, reliable place to store documents. Outreach workers and encampment residents described workarounds including a mailroom operated by the nonprofit Outsiders Inn out of St. Paul Lutheran Church and a resident-made checklist of documents used ahead of encampment cleanups.
The city of Vancouver cleared the downtown encampment where one of the profiled residents lived in late August.
Oakland is increasing tows and sweeps of inhabited vehicles under an Encampment Abatement Policy that took effect in July, after an April city council vote removed inhabited vehicles from the city's definition of a homeless encampment. City workers began towing vehicles or requiring owners to relocate along San Leandro Street in late August, and Oakland police said they towed more than 60 abandoned and stolen cars and RVs in nearby neighborhoods on a single night. About 2,120 of the nearly 3,660 homeless people counted on the city's streets in 2024 — 58% — lived in vehicles, and the city has 1,260 shelter units for 4,410 homeless residents.
Oakland's point-in-time homelessness declined about 20% from 2024 to 2026, per the same report.
Street Sense published emails obtained by public-records request showing a White House "Homelessness Working Group" — including the National Security Council, HUD, HHS, the National Park Service, and D.C. agencies — formed in May 2025 under the Safe and Beautiful Task Force executive order, and that police officers under federal control compiled a 25-site encampment list near the White House on August 14, 2025, at least 14 of which were cleared the next day. The National Park Service said August 28 that it has cleared 169 encampments on federal land since the task force was announced, and D.C.'s monthly clearing average has risen to about 17 this year from eight to nine in 2024–2025.
The White House said on August 19, 2025 that 48 encampments had been cleared during the takeover, a figure the article says Street Sense has not been able to independently confirm.
The Street Services Coordination Center reported 1,758 new campsite reports for August 31–September 6, including 429 reports of people living in vehicles, and removed 146 campsites it said posed health and safety risks. Teams assessed approximately 724 reported campsites and observed 375 active ones. Five people accepted shelter referrals and 2 used a shelter bed for at least one night.
The prior week's report (August 24–30) recorded 1,852 campsite reports and 132 campsites removed.
City Council President Rebecca Noecker said there are no scheduled dates to clear St. Paul's remaining encampments after city leaders called the August closure of the Pig's Eye Park camp unsuccessful. The city spent more than $1 million on new shelter beds before that closure, but providers said only seven were used by people from the camp; about 100 residents moved instead to the Randolph Avenue camp, where police calls have risen more than 1,200%. The mayor's office said closure plans are ongoing but gave no date for Randolph Avenue.
Mayor Kaohly Her announced plans in July to close the city's three biggest encampments, and workers moved more than 200 people out of Pig's Eye Park by August 5; the city faces a $26 million budget deficit.
Neighbors of an encampment at 42nd Avenue South near Beacon Avenue South organized to press the city for action after drone imagery showed the site growing from a handful of tents and RVs in June 2025 to several acres spanning multiple private and public properties. Unified Care Team interim director Lee Momon told residents by email that the encampment "is ranked as a lower priority than other camps in the city" and committed to bi-weekly trash cleanup and outreach while a resolution plan is developed, without giving a timeline.
The city opened a tiny home village adjacent to the site in 2022.
West Seattle Blog · on Roxhill Park encampment removal outcomes
Seattle's Unified Care Team released its figures on the August 28 clearance of the Roxhill Park encampment: 27 people were living there at the time of the resolution, and the team's six visits between August 1 and August 28 produced three shelter referrals. Crews removed approximately 21,000 pounds of debris on August 28 and 29.
The encampment was cleared less than a week and a half after a man was shot in the park.
Street Roots · on shelter acceptance rates under Portland's camping ban
Street Roots reviewed city data on Portland's public camping ban and reported that the Impact Reduction Program has swept over 6,000 encampments since the ban took effect. Impact Reduction Program weekly reports showed 308 of 1,362 people accepted shelter when offered, and Portland Police Bureau data showed 539 of 1,397 people accepted shelter offered by PPB, for a combined acceptance rate of about 31%. Shelter residents interviewed cited belongings restrictions, daily room inspections, theft, and curfews as reasons for declining; Path Home executive director Brandi Tuck put average shelter cost at about $4,000 per person per month.
Portland's ban on sleeping in public took effect Nov. 1, 2025.
The San Francisco Standard · on the postponed Harrison Street encampment sweep
Berkeley announced last week it would clear the Harrison Street encampment September 8 but has postponed the sweep until after a September 8 status hearing before U.S. District Judge Edward Chen, who has ruled the city may dismantle the camp only after relocating 23 disabled residents and storing their possessions. Berkeley Homeless Union president Yesica Prado toured five candidate tent sites with city representatives; per Prado, the city dismissed four and said the fifth, on Camelia Street, could accommodate only two people.
Notices to residents had set the Eighth and Harrison closure for September 8; both sides update Judge Chen on relocation progress at that day's hearing.
A spending breakdown KSTP obtained from Ramsey County showed how St. Paul and the county allocated $2.25 million for shelter expansion before clearing the Pig's Eye Park encampment in early August: $969,500 to Catholic Charities' Higher Ground for 49 beds, $103,125 to Model Cities for 6 stabilization beds, $300,000 for housing-focused case management, and $880,000 in city funds still in contract negotiations. The city previously confirmed only seven people from the camp accepted the beds, and outreach worker John Tolo estimated over 200 people are now at the Randolph Avenue camp.
The county's Shelter Entry and Diversion team handled 608 calls in the most recent reporting week, including 380 for shelter reservations, with several adult shelters at or near capacity.
Cville Right Now · on Charlottesville's Holiday Drive shelter and Free Bridge encampment
Charlottesville planned to open a temporary low-barrier emergency shelter at 2000 Holiday Dr. on Tuesday, September 1, with capacity for 120 people, run by Central Arizona Shelter Services, which set out 37 beds for men, 21 for women, and four isolation beds. The city planned to begin clearing the Free Bridge encampment the same day; City Councilor Jen Fleisher said about 25-30 people remained there. Fleisher said about 80 spaces from a BRACH-managed list become available when Vista 29 opens this fall.
The Free Bridge encampment held as many as 120 people at its height.
Mayor Karen Bass's Inside Safe program completed its 140th operation Monday, August 31, at a longstanding encampment at Venice Boulevard and Glendon Avenue in Palms; Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky said 19 people moved indoors. The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority also provided shelter for people in nearby encampments during extreme heat.
The article reported the program has housed more than 6,000 people citywide.
Roughly 100 residents of the Pig's Eye Regional Park encampment, closed August 5, relocated to the Randolph Avenue woods, which the city said now hold at least 140 to 150 people, up from about 40. Assistant Mayor Cedrick Baker told the city council that just seven of the 140-plus Pig's Eye residents accepted shelter beds before the closure, and that the site's terrain and rail access limit emergency response. Ramsey County reported 28 individuals with active housing referrals, of whom eight have been housed, and put its total spending on the relocation effort at $1.1 million.
Ahead of the August 5 closure, the St. Paul City Council redirected $1 million to open 49 new dedicated shelter beds at Catholic Charities' Higher Ground facility downtown.
Long Beach is building a metal fence around the 1927 Jergins Tunnel beneath Ocean Boulevard, which people have used as shelter since the pandemic; firefighters have doused fires inside at least four times since 2022. A city spokesperson said $156,200 has been spent so far on materials and labor and the project won't be finished until mid-to-late September. The city cited site security, vandalism and fire reduction, and the tunnel's structural integrity as reasons for the fence.
The city spent $811,449 on a fence around the Billie Jean King Main Library's outdoor terrace.
The city's street services teams received 1,852 new campsite reports during the week of August 24-30, including 440 reports of people living in vehicles, assessed approximately 723 reported campsites, and removed 132 campsites the city said posed health and safety risks. Of people contacted, 25 expressed interest in a shelter referral, 5 accepted referrals and 3 used a shelter bed for at least one night.
The prior week's report (August 17-23) recorded 1,931 new campsite reports and 161 campsite removals.
A fire Wednesday at an abandoned Babcock Avenue property in Studio City, where neighbors reported encampments and years of unanswered complaints, prompted mayoral rivals Karen Bass and Nithya Raman to blame each other for the lot's condition. Raman said her office flagged the property to the mayor's office in November; emails reviewed by the Times show her staff listed it as the second-most urgent of five nuisance properties in her district. Bass said she took action the same day the situation was brought directly to her attention, and city crews cleared and fenced the lot by Friday.
Bass and Raman were the top two vote-getters in the June 2 mayoral primary and met in their first post-primary debate August 19.
Mississippi Clarion Ledger · on the Homeward JXN rental assistance program in Jackson, Mississippi
The Jackson City Council voted 5-1 on August 25 to approve a two-year, $220,000 agreement naming the Mississippi Housing Partnership as third-party administrator of a tenant-based rental assistance program, the final administrative step before the city's Homeward JXN initiative launches in September. Council documents show about $2.04 million of Jackson's $2.2 million HOME-ARP allocation will cover rent and utility deposits for an estimated 200 people for up to 12 months, with monthly rent projected to average $850. Planning and Development Director Angela Brown said the program is about closing encampments and moving people into stable housing.
The city will hold a community event September 1 to provide an update on Homeward JXN.
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen issued an August 20 ruling making permanent a set of protections for Berkeley Homeless Union members, under which vehicles used as shelter cannot be impounded unless they pose a concrete safety threat and members must be allowed to relocate during a camp closure or be given a replacement tent if their dwelling is destroyed. BHU attorney Anthony Prince said hundreds of members live in at least 12 encampments across the city. Residents of the Eighth and Harrison encampment have received notice that the camp will be closed on September 8.
Under Chen's earlier order, homeless advocates were required to propose, and city officials to approve or reject, a list of new campsites for 23 camp residents by August 27.
City officials told the St. Paul City Council's Public Safety Committee that the encampment near Shepard Road and Randolph Avenue more than tripled in size after the city closed the Pig's Eye Park encampment. Assistant Mayor Cedrick Baker said that despite a $1 million investment to expand shelter capacity, the city is aware of only seven former Pig's Eye Park residents who used the provided shelter services. Officials said the Randolph site, a former auto salvage yard, has soil contaminated with lead and carcinogens and flooding risks, and gave no timeline for future encampment closures.
CBS Minnesota reported on August 9 that the same encampment had doubled in size after the Pig's Eye closure.
Street Roots reported that Portland's Impact Reduction Program had conducted 5,491 sweeps between the citywide camping ban's November 1 effective date and August 1, more than 1,248 of them since June, and that coordinated camp removals are suspended during excessive heat warnings while police can still ticket for camping-ban violations. County data cited in the story showed total homelessness in Multnomah County rose from 17,155 people in November to 18,248 by May, and that 75% of people exiting shelters as of May remained homeless.
Portland Police Bureau data cited in the story showed 492 of 1,134 people offered shelter as of June accepted it.
San Antonio is testing a "decommissioning" strategy for homeless encampments in which the city pauses sweeps of targeted campsites for up to six weeks while outreach workers help residents find housing or shelter, then uses fences, patrols or trespassing enforcement to keep the camps from re-forming. The Express-News reported the city plans to spend $9 million from the 2022 affordable housing bond on new facilities for the homeless, potentially an emergency shelter or transitional housing, to offset a loss of shelter beds.
The city's fiscal year 2025 budget allocated $44 million for homeless services, including the cleanup of 1,300 encampments.
Portland.gov (Impact Reduction Program) · on Portland campsite removals and shelter referrals, week of Aug. 17–23
The city's Impact Reduction Program reported removing 161 campsites in the week of August 17–23 and receiving 1,931 new campsite reports, including 454 reports of people living in vehicles. Teams assessed approximately 681 reported campsites and visited 368 active ones; 2 people accepted shelter referrals and 1 used a shelter bed for at least one night.
The city's cumulative totals since April 11, 2022 are 9,775 shelter referrals, with 2,966 people having used a shelter bed.
Police records provided to Alpha News showed 212 police entries between June 1 and August 21 at addresses around Randolph Avenue and Shepard Road, near the encampment that grew after St. Paul closed the Pig's Eye Park camp on August 5 — 139 of them in the 17 days after the closure, against 73 in the more than two months before it. The outlet reported the records include both calls for service and police-initiated activity, and that much of the increase reflects a heightened police presence, including 50 proactive visits since August 5.
WCCO reported more than 140 people needed new places to live when Pig's Eye Park closed August 5; Ramsey County granted $969,500 to the downtown Catholic Charities shelter for 49 new beds over the next year.
San Francisco Chronicle · on Berkeley's Eighth-and-Harrison encampment
The Chronicle reported that the Harrison Street encampment in West Berkeley became the subject of a widely shared online debate this week after a local television reporter posted a video of the camp near UC Berkeley student housing, and recounted the litigation that has kept the camp in place. The paper cited a 2026 point-in-time count finding roughly 880 homeless people in Berkeley, about 11% of Alameda County's total.
Under U.S. District Judge Edward Chen's August 13 order, advocates must propose relocation sites for 23 camp residents by August 27, which the city then approves or rejects.
The New Times followed a man through arraignment at Phoenix Municipal Court on a class 1 misdemeanor charge of obstructing a public thoroughfare, cited during a July 30 police sweep near 11th Avenue and Jackson Street in the former "Zone" encampment area — his second citation in under a month. The paper reported there are about 900 shelter beds in the neighborhood, leaving a couple hundred people on the street when they fill each night; the man declined a plea deal, was appointed a public defender, and has a follow-up hearing in early September.
A Maricopa County judge declared the downtown Phoenix "Zone" encampment an illegal public nuisance in 2023 and ordered the city to clear it.
Next City reported that Cleveland, Indianapolis, and Tulsa have adopted local versions of Clutch Consulting's Direct-to-Housing encampment model. Tulsa's unsheltered count fell 31% between 2025 and 2026, from 496 people to 339; Indianapolis's program has housed 220 people since June 2025; and Cleveland's has housed more than 200 since 2024, prompting its council to add $1.9 million to extend the program two years. Clutch reported that across nine adopting cities, roughly 85% of people engaged do not return to homelessness within a year.
Tulsa's unsheltered population nearly doubled between 2021 and 2024, to 534 people.
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen rejected homeless advocates' request for a long-term postponement of Berkeley's closure of the Eighth and Harrison streets encampment, writing that he "expects the Harrison encampment will, in short order, be abated." His order requires advocates to generate, and the city to approve or reject, a list of proposed new campsites for 23 residents by August 27, and requires the city to continue the disability-accommodation assessments and property storage he ordered in April. City attorneys said the camp now has about 80 residents; advocates estimated around 35 in June 2025 and 40 in February.
Berkeley posted notices July 27 ordering the area cleared by August 3, before Chen ordered the city to hold off pending the hearing.
Vancouver began a deep cleaning of the encampment surrounding the Share House Men's Shelter — the city's largest homeless encampment — on Wednesday, requiring residents to relocate for several days; a city notice says they can return Friday. The city's HART team lead, Jamie Spinelli, said the temporary removal addresses accumulated waste and biohazards that weekly in-place cleanups cannot, and said there is no location the city can direct campers to in the interim.
The city closed the nearby Mill Plain Boulevard soundwall camp in March 2025.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers cleared a state-owned lot in Norman on Friday under Gov. Kevin Stitt's Operation SAFE, giving residents 20 minutes to gather belongings before bulldozers removed tents; volunteers estimated 40 to 60 people were displaced. It was the second Operation SAFE sweep of the same site, which people had returned to after a May clearance. Letters from state COO David Ostrowe put state spending on clearing encampments from state property at $375,701 in Oklahoma City and $523,873 in Tulsa; Norman's clearing cost was not included.
Norman voters approved an $8 million shelter bond in April; construction is on hold while the Oklahoma Supreme Court considers an appeal challenging the bond's approval.
The city's Street Services Coordination Center reported receiving 1,734 new campsite reports for the week of August 10-16, including 479 reports of people living in vehicles. Teams assessed approximately 662 reported campsites, visited 392 active campsites and removed 158 campsites the city said posed a health and safety risk. Six people accepted shelter referrals and three used a shelter bed for at least one night.
The program's cumulative totals since April 11, 2022 are 9,766 shelter referrals and 2,965 people who have used a shelter bed.
After St. Paul closed the Pig's Eye Park encampment on Aug. 5, dozens of its residents moved about seven miles up the Mississippi River to an encampment near Randolph Avenue and Shepard Road, which one longtime resident said doubled in size. Before the shutdown, city officials estimated around 220 people lived across three major encampments, 140 of them at Pig's Eye, and the city is spending at least $1 million to expand shelter capacity. Residents of the adjacent Waterford Bay Apartments reported increased 911 calls and concerns about car break-ins; state Rep. Leigh Finke opposed the closure strategy.
Sahan Journal reported on Aug. 5 that the closure began against a 1,400-person shelter waitlist and 49 newly added shelter beds.
Portland.gov Impact Reduction Program · on the week's campsite-report, assessment, and removal figures
The city's Impact Reduction Program reported receiving 1,470 new campsite reports in the week of August 3-9, including 403 reports of people living in vehicles, and said it assessed approximately 652 reported campsites and removed 141 that it said posed a risk to health and safety. Of people contacted, 11 expressed interest in a shelter referral, 3 accepted, and 3 used a shelter bed for at least one night.
The prior week's report (July 27-August 2) recorded 1,701 new campsite reports and approximately 538 campsites assessed.
Philadelphia's Office of Homeless Services runs weekly encampment cleanups citywide, posting notices and cleanup dates in advance and sending outreach workers with police to offer shelter before trash crews clear sites, a process Mayor Cherelle Parker's administration ties to her goal of "functional zero" street homelessness. At one I-95 on-ramp site, an outreach worker found beds for all five remaining residents; the article noted couples are hard to place because most shelters separate men and women.
KYW reported in July that February's point-in-time count found 711 people living unsheltered in Philadelphia, down from more than 1,100 counted in 2025.