The Binghamton Public Works Department joined local police in clearing an unhoused encampment by the Susquehanna River after a reported fire.

Following the incident on Nov. 20, police allowed inhabitants of these encampments to collect all the belongings they could carry before clearing out the area. The encampment’s removal sparked a debate among local officials about solutions to Binghamton’s homelessness crisis. In an interview with Binghamton Homepage, Mayor Jared Kraham said the city is committed to tackling homelessness by offering to connect unhoused people with services but noted that illegal encampments will not be tolerated.

“We cannot just turn a blind eye to the fact that certain parts of our riverfront have become dumping grounds for trash and garbage, for hypodermic needles, human waste,” Kraham said. “These things are not sanitary, it’s a public safety emergency in my estimation, and it’s putting first responders at risk.”

Kraham said the police offer shelter to unhoused individuals through the Department of Social Services. For several months, numerous makeshift shelters have been established along the river, including between the water and the flood control wall along Conklin Avenue on the South Side of Binghamton.

While first responders said no fire needed to be extinguished, remnants of several cooking fires were found in the encampments, according to the Binghamton Homepage. Police issued tickets to inhabitants for illegally camping along the river.

Rebecca Rathmell, a city councilmember-elect and a local housing justice consultant, criticized the removal, calling it cruel and saying it happened without warning. She said all 150 shelter beds in the community — and roughly 300 rooms in hotels the Department of Social Services contracts when shelters are occupied — are full. She added that over the past decade, the number of unhoused people in the Binghamton community has increased from around a dozen to over 70.

“They do not have anywhere else to go,” Rathmell told the Binghamton Homepage. “When we penalize them by throwing their belongings in the garbage and issuing charges and fines, without providing any support or service coordination, that is inhumane.”

Rathmell’s remarks were countered by Kraham, who claimed that the Department of Social Services informed him shelter would be granted upon request, even if it meant moving the person to a different community. He argued that many people opt to live in encampments because they do not want to abide by societal norms.

Rathmell argued that instead of providing hotel rooms, the department should shift its funding toward developing more warming centers, shelters and housing. She also suggested the city collaborate with local outreach teams that have worked with the encampments’ inhabitants. Kraham said the city works with agencies like local chapters of Volunteers of America and the YWCA.

Both Kraham and Rathmell agree that one primary reason for the homelessness crisis in Binghamton is the lack of affordable housing. A study commissioned by Broome County earlier this year found 28 percent of all households in the county and 59 percent of households earning below $50,000 are considered cost-burdened — meaning that residents spend 30 percent or more of their income on housing.

“Certainly, it should not be illegal to be homeless,” Kraham said. “It should not be illegal to be in a place where you’re searching for services and need help. But that also doesn’t give you a license to trash the riverfront, to light fires that could be potentially dangerous, to engage in other criminal activity.”