Homeless on edge after deadline passes for moving out of North Carolina camp

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — A Raleigh homeless encampment said authorities gave them a 24-hour eviction notice, forcing them to leave by 11 a.m. Saturday or risk having their belongings destroyed.

The camp sits hidden behind a patch of trees on South Saunders Street near the entrance to Interstate 40. A CBS17 crew saw that the site was still intact as of 5:30 p.m. Saturday evening.

A woman sitting by the entrance said Raleigh police never showed up.

“You know, I mean, we’re just out here trying to live, trying to make a make a I guess, a community of our own where we know that we’re safe no matter what happens,” Ashley said.

The 29-year-old moved to the South Saunders Street encampment after law enforcement cleared out another camp in April straddling the Garner-Raleigh border on U.S. 70 .

Ashley told CBS 17 that she can’t afford to stay in a hotel, and she doesn’t feel safe at local shelters.

“There are people like robbing you, taking your things, rape. The stabbings like the Greenway stabber? I mean, it’s crazy. It’s crazy,” Ashley said.

Volunteers calling themselves the Welcome to Garner Affordable Housing Coalition told CBS 17 that they’ve worked with many of these people experiencing homelessness since they left another encampment shut down in April along U.S. 70 on the border between Raleigh and Garner.

“ACORN was trying to offer them social services, addiction counseling. I mean, ACORN’s a good plan, but the one thing they didn’t have was alternative housing any place for people to go. So they sort of scattered all over South Saunders Street to various isolated areas,” Marcia Timmel told CBS17 from the Welcome to Garner Affordable Housing Coalition.

Some people at the encampment said that ACORNS, a Raleigh program aimed at helping the homeless , doesn’t have viable housing options for them.

“There’s no place for couples. And I would say about half of the people living here are in long-term committed relationships,” Timmel said.

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