At its annual meeting held Nov. 12 to 15, the American Public Health Association (APHA) formally adopted a resolution declaring that sweeps “endanger the health and well-being of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness.”
APHA is a 25,000-strong professional membership organization that convenes public health researchers to discuss scientific advancements in the field and advocate for better implementation of public health policies.
The resolution was passed by delegates, in a packet of other relatively uncontroversial resolutions, by a vote of 172 to 5. In it, the APHA stated that while forcible displacement of encampments presents a “temporary cosmetic fix” to unsheltered homelessness, it does little to address the root cause of housing instability. Instead of continual displacement, cities should pursue policies that prioritize increasing the availability of shelter and affordable housing, the resolution said.
This intervention from public health researchers comes as cities across the country ramp up their sweeps policies, according to a recent report from the Associated Press. Earlier this year, Real Change obtained records that indicated that Seattle conducted more than 900 sweeps of unhoused people in 2022, the vast majority of which were done with no prior notice. This represents a rebound since 2020, when sweeps were almost entirely paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Public records indicate that the city carried out 1,192 sweeps in 2019 and 392 in 2020, only 15 after the pandemic pause began. In 2021, Seattle conducted 53 sweeps of unsheltered people. At the time, the CDC recommended cities avoid sweeps, which could lead to increased transmission of diseases like COVID.
The APHA resolution was sponsored by the organization’s committee on homelessness; one member is University of Washington professor Amy Hagopian, who has advocated in support of homeless Seattleites. She said that the resolution reflects the remarkable gulf between the scientific consensus that displacement harms health and the realities of municipal policy making.
“Given that pretty much every city in America has, in one way or another, criminalized homelessness, it’s interesting that the health professionals view it as uncontroversial to stop that practice,” Hagopian said. “I was very happy with my association for taking that stance.”
For drafters like Hagopian, the hope is that statements like APHA’s can build momentum for the Stop the Sweeps campaign.
Another co-drafter was Samantha Nall, a Colorado researcher who recently co-authored an article in a prominent medical journal that predicted sweeps could lead to increased overdoses and mortality rates among some unsheltered homeless people. Nall told Real Change in April that “when you sweep people away, you may be taking them away from their services that they do have access to or the community that they’ve built.”
Hagopian said that local politicians don’t consider thoroughly how their policies can directly result in this increased mortality rate, as modeled by recent studies.
“I don’t think they’re deliberately setting out to shorten the lives of these people who are being swept, but that was the effect of their actions,” she said.
The resolution also comes amid a wider trend of some public health workers being increasingly vocal about how political decisions have direct consequences on public health. At the APHA meeting, delegates also passed a resolution endorsing a permanent and immediate cease-fire in Israel’s war on Gaza. Hagopian, who was a supporter of that resolution, said that young public health professionals led the charge of speaking out against the war at the meeting.
Hagopian was clear-eyed about the relatively small amount of influence that public health researchers have on politics. However, she hopes that the sweeps resolution will have an impact on local community organizing.
“I wish APHA’s opinion on a variety of topics meant more to policymakers than it does,” she said. “But we hope that in passing this statement that advocates in cities across the country can use it with their own city councils to say, ‘public health professionals have studied this, and they have assembled the evidence and call for an end to criminalizing homelessness and violently displacing encampments.’”
Guy Oron is the staff reporter for Real Change. He handles coverage of our weekly news stories. Find them on Twitter, @GuyOron.
Read more of the Dec. 6–12, 2023 issue.