Eastside homeless residents packing up encampment
(MIRROR INDY) — People living at an eastside homeless encampment were organizing their belongings Friday afternoon as they prepared to move out.
Some of the items — energy drinks, bike parts, a charcoal grill — were available for others experiencing homelessness to take as they needed.
As for whatever remains, Humberto Acebedo and other residents will take what they can with them as they move somewhere else.
The encampment, at a park on the corner of East Washington Street and Emerson Avenue, became a focus for Indianapolis police following dozens of complaints and 20 reports of trash fires.
When Mirror Indy visited the encampment in late October, residents were trying to clean up their space in hopes that police wouldn’t force them out.
But Acebedo told Mirror Indy on Friday that police kept coming back and told them they were trespassing at the park.
Police didn’t give a timeline for when residents needed to move but did threaten to arrest anyone who stayed, Acebedo said.
“We don’t have any place,” he said, “but we’ll find something.”
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officials previously told Mirror Indy that its homeless unit was working to get people living at the encampment connected to resources.
An IMPD spokesperson said the department wasn’t immediately able to provide more information.
Acebedo said he didn’t plan to stay another night.
People at the encampment said police had made staying there too stressful.
Hannah Collins and Matt Plumber said they stayed one night at the encampment this week and woke up to a police officer pepper spraying one of their dogs, Dime Life.
An IMPD spokesperson told Mirror Indy the department would try to gather more information about what happened.
One resident named Luis, who declined to share his last name, said he was ready to move on anyway.
Luis said it got to the point that he would go to bed at night wondering what time an officer might come the next morning.
Now, Acebedo said he isn’t sure where he’ll go, although sleeping on a friend’s porch is a possibility.
“I’m a survivor,” he said. “I’m strong.”
Mirror Indy reporter Tyler Fenwick covers economics. Contact him at 317-766-1406 or tyler.fenwick@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @ty_fenwick.