Last August, multiple businesses near a large homeless encampment referred to as “The Zone” sued the city of Phoenix. Now, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge has ruled in their favor. The city has less than four months to begin disbanding "The Zone."
Multiple blocks near downtown Phoenix make up "The Zone." Like many neighborhoods, people sit outside and chat.
Unlike other neighborhoods, tents are lined up on the sidewalk. Instead of lawns, there are fields of trash. Chain link fences surround empty lots.
Krystal Cruz has been unhoused for four years. She said people have made homes where they can in "The Zone."
“You can’t just kick somebody out and not tell them where they’re gonna go,” Cruz said.
She comes to "The Zone" to pick up her mail but doesn’t stay there. It’s dangerous, she said. Especially for a woman living by herself.
And after the ruling: “It’s scary for me because then this comes out to where I’m at, you know?”
Cruz said those with nowhere to go will spread out to other parts of the city. She hopes Phoenix will use the empty lots and nearby buildings to provide dignity and resources for the unhoused.
Crystal Welsh said she’s been unhoused for a little over a year and moved from a tent in "The Zone" to a nearby shelter. Like Cruz, Welsh worries for where people living in "The Zone" will go. She said she hopes that when city officials decide what’s next for "The Zone," they’ll remember the humanity of those in it.
“Whether they’re in the shelter, or in the tent, or in a mansion or an apartment,” Welsh said, “we’re all human beings.”
Welsh said that in addition to using empty lots and buildings, the city should work on preventative measures to keep people off the streets.
