Stacey Johnson, 48, has been homeless in Salt Lake City for about a year. During that time, she estimated she’s been through about a dozen camp abatements, where camps get torn down, cleaned up and the people living there are moved out of the area.
Each time, she said it’s been difficult to rebuild.
“It is exhausting and it is scary because you don’t have anything anymore,” Johnson said. “You walk away with absolutely nothing. Then you start picking stuff off the street and asking volunteers for help and praying to God.”
She said her husband’s health has also been part of the collateral damage.
“My husband is a Type 2 diabetic,” she said. “He also has had high blood pressure since he was a child. Each abatement, he’s lost his medication, except for the ones when we’ve been able to save them.”
The health and safety outcomes for people experiencing homelessness are top of mind on Homeless Persons Memorial Day. On Tuesday evening, service providers and community members gathered at a vigil to read the names of 116 people who died in Salt Lake City this year while homeless.
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This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.