(Center Square) – A judge has sided with a business owner in a lawsuit challenging the city of Phoenix’s response to sprawling homeless camps.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney said Monday that city officials have stopped allowing hundreds of homeless people to camp in a large stretch of downtown Phoenix known as “The Zone” to find accommodation. It ruled that we must act quickly.

A group of business owners in the area, located between 7th and 15th Avenues and between Van Buren and Grant streets, filed a lawsuit in Maricopa County in September 2022. One of the plaintiffs, Subshop owner Joe Failless, said: share His harrowing story with The New York Times.

In a ruling obtained by AZ Law, Blaney said the city had “intentionally suspended or at least significantly reduced enforcement of criminal health and other quality-of-life laws and ordinances” in 2019. He said crime and drug use were on the rise in the area. .

City officials claimed they could alleviate homelessness in the area as they saw fit.

Blaney orders the city to remove the tents and biohazards such as faeces, urine and drug paraphernalia. He also banned the city from forcing the removal of buildings built nearby by local businesses to discourage homeless people from camping near the entrance.

According to Maricopa County’s latest point-in-time count, there were more than 9,000 homeless people in the county. According to plaintiffs, the majority of homeless people live in the zone.

Blaney didn’t specify how the city should handle the annoying homeless problem, but he faces a jury trial in July and will have to report to the court to report on its progress. The city has the right to appeal this ruling.