ITHACA, N.Y. — City workers have collected 292 tons of debris from “the Jungle,” Ithaca’s homeless encampment, since clean-up efforts began in May in response to a notice from Tompkins County deeming the property a public health hazard.
That work only began after the 20-30 people inhabiting the area relocated at the request of city officials and under threat of potential legal ramifications.
They’ve moved to either the new sanctioned camping area located behind Walmart and Lowes, near Route 13, or elsewhere. Some have obtained housing, like in the new affordable units at Asteri in downtown Ithaca.
City Manager Deb Mohlenhoff told county legislators last month that city crews began clearing the area on April 30, at which point residents had already evacuated.
The new area was sanctioned for camping by members of the city’s Common Council last year, when they passed a watershed encampment policy pilot.
Deb Wilke, the Homeless Crisis Alleviation Coordinator for Second Wind Cottages, a nonprofit providing outreach services, has worked with residents of the Jungle for years, assisting with navigating social programs and affordable housing options.
Wilke said that “a majority [of the residents] have relocated to the area that’s currently considered sanctioned. And it seems to be increasing all the time.”
While residents can be sure they are within legal bounds camping in the new sanctioned area known as Southwest Park, it’s not ideal, Wilke said.
The conditions there are “not much different” from what people were experiencing living in the Jungle, which the County deemed a public health hazard earlier this year.
In a meeting of the Common Council early last month, Mike Thorne, the city of Ithaca’s superintendent of public works, called the amount of debris in the area “incredible.”
The new sanctioned area is adjacent to Nate’s Floral Estates, a mobile home community on Ithaca’s West End, which presents another problem. Since residents of the Jungle moved to the area, which is about 58 acres in total, residents at Nate’s have complained about noise and excess trash — similar to their complaints before the encampment policy was in effect.
Wilke said that the city directing residents of the Jungle to this new sanctioned area is “messy” and is “creating a problem that isn’t going to go away.”
The encampment policy pilot passed last year includes goals to introduce amenities like bathrooms and running water to the area sanctioned for camping. There has not been further discussion of concrete steps towards making these improvements in public meetings in the city.
Earlier this month, 40 people moved into affordable housing units at Asteri, a development located at the former Green Street Garage site.
There are others, who after being asked to relocate to the newly sanctioned encampment area, chose to set up camp elsewhere around the city.
Multiple small “campsites” have popped up around the city over the past two months, with three or four tents, sometimes less and sometimes more, in areas where the unhoused population had not traditionally resided.
Wilke said many people she has spoken to who are choosing to camp illegally do so to remain close to services available in the city.
Social media posts, mainly in Facebook groups run by locals, have chronicled the transient movement using drone imagery and photography. While it is illegal to camp in unsanctioned areas in the city, Wilke said the posts, and photographs particularly, infringe on the rights of the displaced.
Wilke has been in communication with many who have chosen to set up camp in unsanctioned areas, like along the Inlet, for example, providing them with resources to figure out their next steps.
Per the encompassing encampment policy passed last year, those camping illegally must relocate once police or outreach workers set up a literal sign near the area, which includes a set amount of time they have to do so.
“I’m trying to bridge the gap and give them [more advanced] warning before the police come,” Wilke said. “Because they will be coming.”
Clean-up efforts are ongoing in the city. Thorne, who’s responsible for planning the efforts, told council members back in April that he believed it “might take until the end of 2024 before the entire area is cleaned,” according to previous reporting.
Both city and officials in Tompkins County have both recognized publicly the need for collaboration to effectively manage the encampments and assist those living in them.
County officials formed a working group in September of last year to start shaping what that collaboration would look like, according to previous reporting.
This month, Mayor Robert Cantelmo told The Ithaca Voice he has been in “very close communication” with Dan Klein, the chair of the county legislature, to determine how to provide the amenities the encampment policy pilot suggested.