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State transportation official and emergency clinicians tell House Human Services committee encampments are straining services
Summary
Agency of Transportation staff told the committee they handled 32 encampments on state rights of way in 2025 and spent roughly $126,000 on responses; emergency clinicians and ED staff said cuts to shelters are pushing unhoused people into ERs for shelter, increasing costs and causing moral injury among staff.
Agency of Transportation staff, emergency clinicians and nonclinical emergency‑department workers told the House Human Services Committee that homeless encampments on state property and reductions in shelter capacity are shifting nonmedical needs into hospital emergency departments and imposing costs on multiple agencies.
Christopher Herrick, director of emergency management and safety for the Agency of Transportation, described a policy the agency developed for encampments on state rights of way (roadways, park‑and‑rides, rest areas, rail and aviation) and said his unit encountered and addressed 32 different encampments on state property in 2025. Herrick gave a preliminary accounting that his bureau spent about $126,000 on encampment responses in 2025, citing cleanup contractor costs (one job roughly…
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