'Nowhere else to go:' Dozens forced out of homeless encampment along highway near Raleigh

Dozens of people were forced to leave a homeless encampment on Tuesday – a small patch of land that held around 30 tents and 40 people in the grassy Triangle where US-70 and US-401 split.

The people who lived in the 'Welcome to Garner' encampment say they have nowhere else to go. Some had been living there for months with all of their belongings.

Advocates were also on the site, holding up signs with messages like, "People need homes!" and "Systemic poverty is immoral."

Slowly but surely, the people living in tents on the land began packing up their belongings -- with no real plan of what to do next. Some were hugging one another, crying, and comforting each other.

One woman, around seven months pregnant, was taking all that she could carry.

"I'm going to have to leave most of it," Brandy said. "How am I supposed to carry this?"

Advocates called the forced removal inhumane.

Police say uptick in crime forced the move, but camp leader says the area is safe

Law enforcement posted signs Friday to let people know they'd need to move. Garner police tell WRAL News there's been an uptick in crime recently – including assaults, drugs and vehicles being broken into – which is forcing them to shut the camp down.

"We are familiar with the group of unsheltered people staying on state property at the interchange of U.S. 70 and U.S. 401," Raleigh police said in a statement. "We and the state have been working with this group since the beginning of the year to provide assistance and connect them with resources where possible."

Raleigh police said in March its ACORNS unit, which consists of social workers and officers, joined the effort to provide field services. Police said the group uses a “care and safety first, enforcement last” approach. According to Raleigh police, ACORNS has held three outreach sessions with the people living in this encampment. ACORNS has also coordinated and conducted visits with Healing Transitions’ rapid responder outreach team. Healing Transitions continued to serve the location each week, according to the police..

"While the people in the encampment have consistently declined services through ACORNS and the city of Raleigh, ACORNS held another session with residents on Monday," police said. "We will continue to help make connections to programs available through the city and private partners.

"Enforcement is our last option in this complicated situation."

Just outside of Brandy’s tent, there are hypodermic needles on the ground.

One of the encampment's leaders, a man who goes by Wild Horse, said the area is safe.

"We're not doing nothing wrong," he said. "They say this is unsafe area. I make damn sure, excuse my language, that it is very safe."

Camp leader says they've got nowhere to go; police say resources have been turned down

Wild Horse tells WRAL News the camp's whole lives are in those small tents.

"You’re not only taking the light out of these people's eyes, but now you're kicking the legs up on them," he said. "They're scared. They don't have nowhere else to go."

Advocates agree, saying pushing the unhoused people off this patch of land is inhumane.

"All we are saying is how about a patch of grass where somebody could pitch their tents?" said Patrick O'Neill, an advocate who lives in Garner. "Well if that’s not the bare minimum in our culture, and that’s not happening."

Those advocates say they are frequently out here to help, even if it’s with just a sandwich. Raleigh police and other groups say they've offered additional resources in the past, but they've been turned down.

Raleigh police told WRAL News that people have visited the camp weekly since March to try and provide help, saying, "The people in the encampment have consistently declined the services."

But Wild Horse says it's not true, arguing, "Don't believe all the story. They talked about, 'They help this, they help that. They do this, they do that,' because they don't."

The notice to vacate said police would be here to remove everything if it wasn’t gone by 10 a.m. on Tuesday, but WRAL News never saw any law enforcement arrive on site. However, WRAL News has been told that once everyone is gone, the NC DOT will come in to clean up any leftover litter or debris.