COVINGTON — The homeless people whose tents and other belongings were removed from riverfront camps Monday are illegal squatters who pose a liability and safety risk, city officials say.

        “Trespassers don't have a lot of rights, and that's essentially what they're doing,” said Covington City Solicitor Jay Fossett. “They're trespassing on our property that the city has a right to manage and control.”

HOW TO HELP

Welcome House, a private, nonprofit social service agency, is seeking donations of sleeping bags, tarps and tents, and jeans with waist sizes from 30 to 34 inches. Call Rachael Winters, homeless services coordinator, at (859) 431-8717, or drop off the items at the Welcome House, 205 Pike St. in Covington.

        Besides creating a liability issue for the city, Mr. Fossett said, there's the potential for damage from the campfires. On Tuesday, city officials faxed the Enquirer a copy of a news story that told how a fire last week in a makeshift homeless camp in Manchester, N.H., destroyed electrical and phone lines running under a bridge, leaving thousands of customers without phone service for days.

        But advocates for Northern Kentucky's homeless say it was a desire to rid the city of homeless people — not safety concerns — that sparked this week's backhoe and dump truck cleanup of Covington's riverfront camps. In the past, they say city workers have asked the men to move elsewhere, but didn't take their belongings.

        “People really felt violated because their stuff was taken without their permission, and no notice was given,” said Rachael Winters, the homeless services coordinator for Welcome House, a Covington nonprofit social services agency. “(City workers) didn't take any of the trash out ... They took out their tents, their backpacks and the things the people considered a part of their home. People who were working (when the items were removed) didn't even have a change of clothing when they got home.”

        In Cincinnati, the disposal of homeless people's possessions is the subject of a lawsuit pending in federal court, says Molly Lyons, a Cincinnati-based advocate with the National Homeless Civil Rights Organizing Project.

        Five homeless people who had been living under bridges sued the city and Hamilton County after their property was removed during a sweep last year, Ms. Lyons said.

        “Right now the city has agreed not to do anything under bridges until this is decided,” she said.

        Mayor Butch Callery said city officials have agreed to hold off on further cleanup of the riverbank until police meet today with Parish Kitchen director Molly Navin to discuss her concerns. For future cleanups, the mayor said, city workers will pass out cards telling homeless campers where they can pick up their belongings and how to contact agencies that can help them with other needs.

        On Monday, city workers confiscated tents, tarps and anything that could be construed as illegal housing to prevent them from being used for that purpose again, Mr. Fossett said. While many items were disposed of because they had human waste on them, he said other personal items were left behind for people to retrieve.

        Mark Teegarden, once homeless himself, who volunteers for Northern Kentucky agencies serving homeless people, disputed that account.

        “I just think it all boils down to this tourism thing and the fact that the Life Learning Center has talked about coming in,” he said. “I just find it amazing with the vote coming up (on the Life Learning Center) that there's this move to remove the homeless people.”

        The Covington City Commission has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday on a controversial social service center proposed for 13th Street and Madison Avenue that would provide transitional apartments, a clinic and a day center where homeless people could store belongings, change clothes, pick up mail and call prospective employers.

        Some downtown business owners, some of whom depend on Covington and Newport tourism, are protesting the site proposed for the center.

        Enquirer reporter Karen Samples contributed to this story.

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