CINCINNATI — The Big Mac Bridge fire has sparked a new conversation about homeless encampments in Cincinnati, two days after the WCPO 9 I-Team reported on Ohio Department of Transportation documents detailing fire damage from “people living under our bridges.”
The Cincinnati Fire Department has yet to reveal what caused the Nov. 1 blaze, which closed Cincinnati’s southbound entrance ramps to I-471 and continues to disrupt traffic for thousands of commuters who used the bridge daily. In the absence of answers, rumors continue to circulate on social media – and in local political circles - that a person experiencing homelessness caused the fire.
After WCPO asked members of the city council about the fire investigation Tuesday, Cincinnati Councilman Jeff Cramerding announced he’s working on a motion “asking the administration to provide a report on actions that can be taken to curb homeless encampments.”
The draft motion, which he hopes to introduce in the next few weeks, seeks “data regarding the rate of homeless encampments in the city” and “gaps in the current shelter or housing systems that would provide viable alternatives to encampments.” It doesn’t mention the bridge fire, but seeks proposals “to further discourage encampments in parks, recreation sites and other public spaces.”
Adams Crossing resident Gary Bryson applauds those ideas, based on what he's encountered during daily walks near his Captain’s Watch condo in the last 12 years. Bryson lives about 700 feet east of the 1,000 Hands playground where the Big Mac fire started.
“We know people stay under the bridges around us and from time to time there are fires,” said Bryson. “I’ve seen evidence of fires under a bridge because of the charred ground, and the rocks, the way they’re placed and everything. And I smell smoke on really cold nights.”
Homeless encampments are now regularly discussed at meetings of the Downtown Residents Council, where Bryson’s wife, Jackie, is president. She said Cincinnati’s central riverfront saw an increase this year in the number of people living outside after Kentucky became one of three states to ban outdoor homeless camping this year.
“It’s something that needs to be talked about and solutions need to be found,” Jackie Bryson said. “We need to open up the dialogue. We need to figure out what we can do and what are the parameters when help is offered and help is refused because that’s where I feel the real gap is.”
Josh Spring, executive director of the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition, thinks the growing debate is an overreaction to the Big Mac Bridge fire, one that could harm unhoused people.
“Bridges are extremely important. The people that ride over them - and may be under them - are all very important. But ultimately, if it distracts the city from focusing on real solutions, that’s sad,” Spring said. “The best idea is for us as a society and a community to invest adequate funds so that we all have housing we can afford.”
Spring said there is “no logical reason to assume that anybody experiencing homelessness is connected to” the Big Mac Bridge fire because the playground is too exposed to people seeking shelter from the weather and other people.
“That bridge is so tall it is virtually the same as standing out in the open,” Spring said. “We have literally never heard of anybody seeking shelter under that bridge.”
ODOT records provided no evidence that a person experiencing homelessness caused the Big Mac Bridge fire. But they did provide new details about fire damage to Cincinnati bridges, caused by people seeking shelter.
“The homeless encampments are a continual concern,” ODOT District 8 Engineer Brandon Collett wrote in a December 2023 email to his boss, Sean Meddles, administrator of ODOT’s office of structural engineering. “We seem to have a fire or two a year in Hamilton County, with several fires hot enough to crack cross-frame welds, melt joint elastomer seals, and they all tend to do at least $100k of paint destruction.”
Cincinnati has a unique approach to people living in public spaces, following a 2018 controversy over a “tent city” that developed along Third Street near Fort Washington Way. The controversy led to a lawsuit that the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition settled in May by getting the city to concede that “imposing criminal penalties for sitting, sleeping or laying on public property against individuals experiencing homelessness who cannot access shelter is prohibited by the Eighth Amendment,” which bans cruel and unusual punishment.
The case was settled a month before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that outdoor sleeping bans do not violate the Eighth Amendment.
The settlement led to a new policy requiring complaints about homeless encampments to be investigated by the city manager’s office. It sends a designee to “engage with residents” of the encampment and determine whether “housing or shelter is available for each resident.” If space is available, “residents will be advised they have a 72-hour, three-day period to collect their personal belongings and depart the area,” according to the policy.
Gary Bryson argues the settlement isn’t working and should be unraveled.
“We have called the social workers in several times and we know that they have talked to these folks. But they either disappear and come back or other people replace them,” Bryson said. “There’s certain places you just can’t live. You can’t live in the middle of a park. You can’t live under an underpass. You can’t live where you interfere with the rights of other people.”
Spring also has concerns about how the new city policy is working. But he’d rather focus on new housing instead of new ways to ban outdoor sleeping.
“The city has an obligation to follow the settlement that we worked together on,” Spring said. “And it’s really very simple. If we don’t have enough housing in our community that is affordable, some of us will end up living in shelters and outdoors.”
