Freeman Toth thinks it’s time the city of Concord considers establishing a sanctioned encampment for people living outside.

Toth, who leads the county Community Action Program’s housing stabilization and street outreach team, has seen people with nowhere else to go move from one place to the next after the city clears an encampment.

In the wake of the City Council’s decision to spend $205,000 to clean Healy Park and clear the homeless people living there, Toth provided a draft proposal to a city committee outlining how a sanctioned encampment could be beneficial in Concord.

“This is like a FEMA level measure, right? I have lived outside and do not relish this,” said Toth. “It is not a solution. It is not permanent. But it is more dignified than what we’re doing now, and every step we make should be moving dignity forward.”

The encampment should provide essentials, like sanitation facilities and waste disposal, according to Toth. To be successful, it would need to incorporate a multitude of local organizations that contribute healthcare services, security, and help with future housing placements. A broader management plan should also be adopted with input from encampment residents to meet their needs and secure their safety, and that of the extended community.

“So I see an encampment as an opportunity, which I know all of you care about data, and I know all of us care about tax dollars,” said Toth. “If I can’t resonate with the humanity aspect, I’m going to talk about money, and I’m going to talk about public health and safety.”

Toth told the members of the city’s Committee for Concord’s Plan to End Homelessness that if a sanctioned encampment exists with a 24/7 police presence and on-site healthcare services, the burden upon police and emergency medical services would decrease, since first responders wouldn’t have to deploy to various locations and most medical aid could be provided at the encampment.

Additionally, an encampment offers an opportunity to locate residents who are ready for a next step, such as moving to a transitional house. It can be difficult to contact and find unhoused applicants when it’s their turn in the queue, which often means they lose their position.

“Right now, without a sanctioned encampment, we’re passing those people by and we’re perpetuating their suffering and we are costing taxpayers an absurd amount of money,” said Toth.

Members of the committee had widely positive yet skeptical responses.

“I’m open to listening to and hearing it. I just think there’s going to be big hurdles,” said Deputy Police Chief Barrett Moulton. “But like I said, we’ll support and do what we can with it; it’s just got to be managed well. It’s got to be in the right spot. I’m not saying it can’t be done, I would just like to hear some and see some places where it’s worked and what’s been successful and what hasn’t been.”

Mayor Byron Champlin agreed with Moulton, saying that sanctioned encampment is worth looking at, but there are issues, such as the location, neighbors and management.

Rosanne Haggerty, the committee chair, offered to connect interested members with someone who was involved in the creation of a “well-regarded” and “well-run” sanctioned encampment in Denver, to hear about lessons they learned in the process. She and the city council representative, Jim Schlosser, tasked those interested in working together towards a sanctioned encampment to generate more ideas before the next meeting.

After the committee’s deliberations, the floor was opened to community members. The only unhoused person at the meeting, held at the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce, was Michelle Geffrard, who has attended before.

“As a committee that is about homelessness, why is there not one homeless person on your committee?” she said. “Where is our voice?”

Geffrard’s comment sent the committee into a discussion about subcommittees, which can have members who are community volunteers.

Bill Davis, a community member who used to be on the steering committee, supported the idea.

“Nine, 10 years ago, somebody challenged Mayor Bloomberg to put somebody on this steering committee who was homeless. My first reaction was that it could be interesting,” he said. “I tell you it was the best addition that we have ever had to this committee.”

Davis, who is the chair of the Concord Salvation Army’s advisory board, said that he would come in with things he’d heard from the McKenna House, a homeless shelter run by his organization, that he hesitated to share with the committee because they may have found parts hard to believe. For him, having their homeless representative present helped give credibility to certain experiences of the unhoused community.

“I would 100% support you adding somebody to the board who is presently homeless,” he said.

Toth, tasked with organizing the effort around the sanctioned encampment proposal, also would like to include unhoused individuals in the process.

Another community member, Mark Feigl, supported the prospect of a sanctioned encampment.

“There’s going to be an encampment somewhere. There already is. We might as well sanction it,” said Feigl, who sits on the Merrimack River Watershed Council. “It would be a bold, courageous move for Concord to do this. But I think that we’re the kind of city that could do it.”

Yaa Bame can be reached at ybame@cmonitor.com