Judge hits pause on city’s Jan. 17 ‘vacate order’ at homeless encampment to weigh ACLU arguments

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ACLU Legal Director Gilles Bissonnette, right, leans in for a consultation with Dennis Higgins, who was named as one of two plaintiffs in a suit brought against the city by the ACLU over the evacuation of the homeless encampment at Pine and Manchester streets. Higgins has been living homeless in Manchester for the past year. Photo/Carol Robidoux

MANCHESTER, NH – If you boil down the main arguments during Friday’s 90-minute court hearing held at Hillsborough Superior Court North between the ACLU and the city of Manchester into two succinct quotes, here’s what they would be.

ACLU: “Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

City: “Don let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

In the end, Judge John Kissinger did not render a final decision. He instead asked the city if it would hold off on the Jan. 17 vacate order if he could deliver his ruling by end-of-day Tuesday. After hearing arguments from Gilles Bissonnette, ACLU Legal Director, and Attorney Mark Rouvalis, representing the city, Kissinger said he needed time to consider all the information presented.

Coming before him late on the Friday before a holiday with a deadline looming was putting the squeeze on his ability to render a thoughtful and fair decision.

Both Bissonnette and Rouvalis acknowledged the urgency in the room but accepted the judge’s compromise.

Bissonnette’s urgency was around what he called an unrealistic deadline. He said he was just asking to “buy some time and breathing space” to allow more time for a permanent solution before forcing the encampment to scatter. He cited past experiences with city encampment sweeps that provided no solution other than forcing people from one encampment to another.

“It comes down to a core question, a question I don’t think has been adequately answered by the city, which is if these individuals are evicted … where do they go?”

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Gilles Bissonnette, ACLU Legal Director, addresses Judge John Kissinger in Hillsborough County Superior Court on Jan. 13, 2023. Photo/Jeffrey Hastings

He argued that the Cashin Center doesn’t qualify as a shelter – reclining cots are not beds, meals and showers are not available, and those who come to sleep are left with gaps of time during the day with no place to go during the harshest weather season of the year. And he cited the city’s own ordinance prohibiting camping in public spaces “unless shelter space exists.”

“We know the Cashin Center is not a shelter,” Bissonnette said.

Rouvalis argued that the city has not taken the issue of homelessness lightly, citing recent initiatives and others in motion. But he also expressed the urgency around public safety and health concerns – including life and death scenarios.


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“But what cannot continue … is the occupation of city property by people in tents in dangerous conditions, and creating dangerous conditions for not only one of the major homeless shelters that exists in the city but for other neighbors and residents as well – and for themselves. We are here in an ironic spot,” Rouvalis said.

“The plaintiffs are saying ‘leave me out on the street’ when the city is saying ‘I have space available to keep you warm at night, to keep you safe at night, to have police and fire protection at the Cashin Center.’  And yes, do they have to leave for some portion of the day? But the notion that the action we’re taking is causing them irreparable harm – which is a standard that has to be applied to here, is wrong; just flat out wrong and incorrect.”

Rouvalis disputed Bissonnette’s claim that because the Cashin Center is not a full-time shelter it does not qualify as a solution for those with no place else to go.

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Attorney Mark Rouvalis, representing the city of Manchester, listens to Gilles Bissonnette arguments in court on Jan. 13, 2023. Photo/Jeffrey Hastings

“I keep coming back to this phrase: let’s not make the perfect the enemy of the good. I’d love nothing more than to have them sheltered with all the 24/7 services and everything else,” Rouvalis said. “We want to see that and there are more coming online and there are more things that are going to be done. But that doesn’t mean that they’ve met their burden of proof that we have to stop providing these services that are available to take people off the street now.”

After briefly deliberating with his team, Rouvalis said the city would agree to take no action before the end of business on Jan. 17.

Afterward, Bissonnette said he was satisfied with the decision.

“It’s a good preliminary order and I think that’s really what it’s about,” Bissonnette said.

“We made the arguments we needed to make and, key to this whole process, is ensuring that these very important constitutional arguments on behalf of the unhoused population are heard and are presented because these are real rights held by real people,” he said.

Bissonnette conceded that the city’s recent actions – opening the Cashin Center as an overnight emergency shelter and getting permission from the state to open a women’s shelter in a state-owned building – “are good things.”

“And we’ve said so repeatedly. That doesn’t justify, legally, what’s happening right now. There is no place for them to go,” he said.

He said all involved have learned some things over the past two years since the state cleared the very lawn outside the courthouse where Friday’s proceedings took place of a homeless encampment twice the size of the one on Pine and Manchester streets.

Although the ACLU followed that process but did not file any action against the state when troopers swept the encampment without a plan.

“We’ve learned from the Hillsborough clearing [and others] that we’re in this cycle of chasing houseless individuals and the city wants to perpetuate it again and continue it because they know there isn’t a sustainable place for these individuals to go. They’re doing good things, yes, but this doesn’t justify perpetuating that cycle,” Bissonnette said.

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From left, Dennis Higgins, Dam Wright and Kaylee Chaput, who came in support of the ACLU, listen to the court proceedings. Higgins was named as a plaintiff in the case against the city. Photo/Jeffrey Hastings

Courtroom 3 was near capacity, with mostly city officials and police officers on one side, and advocates for the homeless – including several people currently living at the encampment, on the other.  Among those was Dennis Higgins, who has been living in Manchester unsheltered for the past year. He is named in the ACLU’s filing as a plaintiff. He sat through the proceedings and conferred with Bissonnette a few times throughout. Outside the courtroom, Higgins said he felt nervous about the situation and being “in the limelight,” but said he felt he had a purpose in speaking up for those who aren’t always in a position to speak for themselves.

“If that’s what it’s going to take for me or anybody to get help, then I’ll do it,” he said.

Higgins said he has run several automotive businesses in his past, and is known as “the mechanic” at the encampment. He has collected a large number of bicycles, many of which he keeps outside his tent, and some of which he fixes and sells for income. A few weeks ago city police moved several of the bikes into storage, as they were impeding the sidewalk.

If the city opened a permanent shelter tomorrow, Higgins said he would go.

“I’d leave – everybody leaves,” he said.

Higgins was among those from the encampment who spent a night at the Cashin Center after it opened. He said he had trouble sleeping. He said he might try again, but he feels safer at the encampment.

“I always have trouble sleeping in a new place. I don’t care if the bed was in the Ritz, but  I have no trouble sleeping in the tent. Plus, all my stuff is there. There’s not enough room in one tote for all that stuff, and I’m a mechanic, so now we’re looking at my tools. Without them I feel like I’m not worth anything.”


Below are the case filings from the ACLU and the City of Manchester.

About this Author

Carol Robidoux

PublisherManchester Ink Link

Longtime NH journalist and publisher of ManchesterInkLink.com. Loves R&B, German beer, and the Queen City!