Charlottesville cleared the Free Bridge encampment on Sept. 1 as part of a city-planned move to a temporary shelter on Holiday Drive. A week later, local advocate Isis Neumann blasted the City Council for calling the operation “smooth,” accusing officials of downplaying arrests, hospitalizations, discarded belongings and the trauma unhoused residents experienced during the clearing. Neumann also argued the city’s response is costing more than permanent housing would. The temporary shelter is budgeted at about $3 million a year — roughly $50,000 per resident — and advocates at the meeting argued that helping people rent apartments in Charlottesville could cost far less.
