COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ben Sears is the executive director of the Columbus Coalition for the Homeless.

He said homeless camp sweeps have been happening for years. 

What You Need To Know

  • Columbus has swept some of the homeless camps in the city during the winter season, but according to executive director of the Columbus Coalition for the Homeless, Ben Sears, camp sweeps happen all the time

  • When a camp is swept, the unhoused living in that camp just move down the road and continue to create another camp

  • Sears says this doesn't solve anything but continues to make the problem worse 

“This is not a solution solving homelessness. It’s not a solution that's helping individuals living in the camps,” said Sears. “This process has been going on for quite a long time. And throughout the year, many camps get cleared."

After the homeless camps are swept, Sears said many unhoused persons that were living in the camp just move their belongings down the road, creating a never-ending cycle.

“Most of the individuals that are swept from these locations are moving just a route a short distance away and living the same experience and, you know, waiting for that next time that their camps are going to get swept,” said Sears. 

According to the Community Shelter Board 2024 point in time count, over 2300 people are homeless in Franklin County. That’s almost a 2% increase from the 2023 count. 

Sears said many people living in these camps don’t want to but have to and that camp sweeps are complicated. 

“It’s way more complicated than the response that you’re seeing with the camps being cleared. But it really happens because there isn’t a good solution for the people living in these camps,” said Sears. 

The Columbus Coalition for the Homeless works with nonprofits that directly interact and work with the unhoused living on the land. Sears said many of these organizations are overwhelmed and frustrated. 

“They’re tired of seeing the people that they serve day in and day out be harmed by this process. They’re tired of not knowing what is a failed, not a not believing in an option that can help these people,” said Sears. 

Sears said the waitlists for housing are too long and the shelters are too crowded and with the city’s expected exponential growth, this issue is only going to get worse.