With a court deadline looming on July 10 for the City of Phoenix to clean up a squalid homeless encampment known as “The Zone,” more homeless people than ever are flooding the area despite the city’s aggressive efforts to address the disorder.

The failure to clean up “The Zone” is leaving business owners and other neighbors more distraught than ever about destruction of property, violence, drugs and filth, and even dead bodies.

Despite recent efforts made by city officials, over 900 people were living at the encampment, near Phoenix’s city center, as of Tuesday, an increase of more than 100 people from the previous week, a spokesman for the Human Services Campus, Steve Carr, told The Arizona Republic.

The city’s cleanup plan was released on April 21, about a month after an Arizona court ruled “The Zone” was a “public nuisance” and ordered the city to shut down the encampment.

Officials then said they would conduct a more “enhanced cleaning” approach for the area, instead of moving hundreds at the same time. The plan has been for them to try to relocate the residents block by block to shelters, treatment centers, and motels. 

Up to the moment, there have been three cleaning dates in Phoenix, the public information officer for the Office of Homeless Solutions, Kristin Couturier, tells the Sun. They have been able to offer every individual an opportunity to be relocated to an indoor shelter and have had an 80 percent success rate of acceptance, she adds. 

The lawsuit, Brown v. City of Phoenix, was filed in state court by 15 residents who own homes, businesses, and land close to the encampment. Photographs included in the complaint show car windows smashed, individuals involved with drugs, and rows of tents and trash covering the street. 

In the lawsuit, the residents claimed that a “humanitarian crisis” is unfolding at The Zone, as derelicts living in the area are often found dead. They say the city has illegally enacted policies that concentrate homeless people in the area. Yet, they don’t pass laws that prohibit illegal activity, such as loitering or disorderly conduct.

Under the ruling, the City of Phoenix has until July 10 to show evidence of the cleanup before a judge. Officials must ensure the area is free of tents and other man-made structures in the public rights of way, hazardous items, such as human feces and urine, and individuals committing offenses that threaten public order. 

The Zone is located between 7th and 16th avenues, just a few blocks away from the Arizona State Capitol complex. Arizona’s homeless population increased by more than 23 percent between 2020 and 2022, according to a report released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Phoenix has seen a 64 percent increase in its unsheltered population between 2020 and 2023, according to a report by the Maricopa County government. 

The first cleanup occurred on May 10, in which 47 out of 60 people agreed to be relocated into an indoor shelter. The second cleanup took place on May 31, in which 37 people out of 44 decided to accept the government’s services, according to Ms. Couturier. The third one happened on Wednesday, and out of 17 people, 12 accepted shelters. 

During the second cleanup date, a man whose name has not been released refused to leave the area and threatened an outreach worker with a knife when he tried to get him to leave, according to Arizona Central. The man was arrested and charged with misdemeanor trespassing and threatening. 

Some business owners remain skeptical of the plan. “I’m praying that it does happen, and it follows the schedule that they are planning, but I have been here long enough to see the ups and the downs,” the owner of a garage in the area, Miguel Samaniego, told Fox 10. 

Mr. Samaniego even said that things have been “a little out of control” since the lawsuit was announced. “Urine, defecation, drugs, you know, needles on every corner, and they are just doing whatever they want,” he adds. 

Phoenix’s encampment cleanup is just one example of the homelessness crisis in American cities, though much of the crisis is unfolding in liberal, West Coast cities with permissive approaches to the homeless. Portland opened a Safe Rest Village last month in one of many efforts to crack down on the homelessness encampments.

The San Diego City Council voted last week to prohibit tent encampments in all public spaces of the city if shelter beds are available. Seattle, San Francisco, and Greater Los Angeles have also been grappling with persistent homelessness encampments.

The Zone is unusual as it’s in Phoenix, a more conservative city in a much more conservative state. Maricopa County, which contains Phoenix, is known for its aggressive approach to law enforcement.