On Oct. 13, Mayor Bruce Harrell announced a proposed budget that contained sweeping changes to his Unified Care Team (UCT), a group overseen by Deputy Mayor Tiffany Washington and tasked with the removal of unauthorized encampments on city property, colloquially known as “sweeps.”
The team — formed in January 2022, at the outset of the Harrell administration — is a clearinghouse for all things encampment-related: fielding complaints from residents, inspecting encampment sites, prioritizing them for removal and conducting the actual removals. ...