CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – At its peak, about 120 homeless people were living at the Free Bridge encampment off the Rivanna River Trail. That number had dwindled to about 50 as of August.

City officials cleared that space last week and, in the first two days, 26 people moved to the new shelter at 2000 Holiday Dr. As of Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, that number had jumped to 57. Of course, that begged the question: Where did everyone else go?

City Councilor Jen Fleisher told Cville Right Now that, by July, the population of the encampment was estimated to be down to about 50 people, with many moving on once the city announced its plans to clear the area.

It’s unclear how many of the 57 currently at Holiday Dr. came from the encampment.

Shayla Washington, executive director of the Blue Ridge Area Coalition for the Homeless, told Cville Right Now many of the Free Bridge residents have moved to other previously-established encampments in the city and county.

That includes areas under the Belmont Bridge, along the Rivanna River Trail near the Meadow Creek Gardens and Disc Golf Course and English Inn, on the Downtown Mall, near the post office on Route 29, near the Wawa on 5th St. and near the Starbucks on 5th St.

“I think eventually what they did at Free Bridge will happen other places,” Washington said.

Fleisher told Cville Right Now that Charlottesville has no immediate plans to clear those spaces the way it did the Free Bridge encampment.

“We recognize that there will be encampments that may try to pop up elsewhere, and (the encampment near) English Inn is known. Our goal is to bring on the system that can work on homelessness at large and can ultimately help anyone in an encampment move inside and into shelter and ultimately housing that supports their needs,” Fleisher said. “Are we OK with people living outside who should have housing? No. Are we working on the system, the outreach workers, the positions, the broader network to tackle that and do so in a really productive and compassionate and effective way? Yes. I think you will see, over time, that we will have more housing available for people to move into, which is the solution to the problem, and more resources to keep people in that housing successfully. As we do that, that’s the way to get encampments closed for good.”

While Fleisher said the clearing of the Free Bridge encampment went “smoothly,” not everyone agreed.

Isis Neumann, a local advocate for the unhoused who volunteers with the Care Bears group, told Cville Right Now the city’s actions “caused stress and trauma.”

“This will make it harder for service providers to reach people,” Neumann said. “Evidence shows encampment sweeps increase overdose and death rates. People have been pushed farther into isolation. No one who truly cares about other people would have done this.”

But Fleisher said clearing Free Bridge was necessary, not just because of the conditions, crime and public health concerns at the encampment, but because of natural threats to the residents.

“I think our goal with Free Bridge and 0 East High, we have to prioritize the health of those residents because they were in such a dangerous spot with flood season and hurricane season,” she said. “We knew we wanted to get them to higher ground and shelter.”

That’s what the city has said, but what will happen if encampments start popping up in Albemarle County?

“We would approach any encampments really with a focus on education and then connecting people with services,” Albemarle County spokesperson Abbey Stumpf told Cville Right Now.