PROVIDENCE – A homeless encampment outside the R.I. Statehouse can stay there, for now, a Providence County Superior Court justice said Friday.
The temporary restraining order issued by Associate Justice David R. Cruise comes after several days of escalating tension between housing advocates and Gov. Daniel J. McKee over McKee’s attempt to remove homeless people camped on Statehouse grounds.
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McKee on Dec. 7 issued a notice, giving those camped out until 9 a.m. Friday to leave the Statehouse and remove their belongings or else face possible fines or arrest. The warning drew swift criticism from advocacy groups, inspiring protests and a statement from the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island denouncing McKee’s notice “inappropriate” and “without legal basis.”
A Warwick attorney, Richard Corley, sought to stop the eviction, filing a motion for a preliminary injunction in Providence Superior Court on Thursday, according to court records shared with PBN. In the motion, which names McKee as the defendant, Corley says the governor failed to give the people camped out outside the Statehouse “any reasonable time to respond or comply with the notice.”
“The hasty and faulty method being proposed by Governor Daniel McKee is creating a dangerous environment for not only those at the encampment, but those who live in the surrounding area, and should be modified, delated or reconsidered until a further date to ensure the safety of the men, women and children that are being uprooted during the Holiday Season,” Corley wrote. “An impending disaster is looming.”
Although McKee’s eviction notice offered to take those camped out to an emergency shelter, there appears to be nowhere for them to go. Plans to set up an emergency warming center in the Cranston Street Armory have been delayed due to lack of responses to the state request for proposals, according to news reports. A separate shelter operated by the Diocese of Providence, Emmanuel House, is only open to men, not women and children, and does not have any room available, according to Corley’s motion.
The injunction issued Friday stops the people camped outside the state house from being evicted until the next hearing, slated for Dec. 14. Corley in an interview Friday said he was pleased with the judge’s order but that seven days was still not enough time to coordinate housing for the roughly 40 homeless people being asked to vacate.
Matthew Sheaff, a spokesman for McKee, said in a statement on Friday, ““Our number one priority from the beginning has been to help the those camping at the Statehouse get into a warm shelter and off the streets. Over the past several days, we have been able to provide safe shelter for many of these individuals and couples. Based on significant outreach done at various times during the day over the last 48 hours, we estimate that of the approximately 17 adults outside the Statehouse as of Wednesday morning, less than 10 remain. We will continue to work to connect them with safe shelter.”
(Update: Comment from McKee’s office added in 8th paragraph)
Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Lavin@PBN.com.
