PROVIDENCE — The homeless men and women living in a city park near Roger Williams Medical Center must pack their tents by Sept. 28, a Superior Court judge ruled Monday.

The eviction case has helped illuminate the “severe problem of the homeless” in Providence, said Judge Jeffrey Lanphear. “The homeless are not being adequately cared for on a regular basis.”

But the city has the right to enforce its laws regarding illegal camping in parks such as the one on Pleasant Valley Parkway, near the medical center.

“The city certainly has a right to control its own property,” he said.

On Labor Day weekend, the 10 mostly homeless couples moved to the wooded park, set up tents and started cooking meals on a gas grill. The group, part of the original Camp Runamuck, previously lived under a bridge in East Providence, but moved to avoid eviction.

Peter G. De Simone, a lawyer for the homeless, said he will appeal Lanphear’s ruling.

Earlier in court, Senior Assistant City Solicitor Kevin F. McHugh argued that the group is trespassing on city land and violating several ordinances by cooking, pitching tents and sleeping in the park, which closes at 9 p.m.

The camp, said McHugh and other witnesses, lacks running water, showers and a bathroom and poses a “threat to the health, safety and welfare of the public.”

On Monday, De Simone argued that the case should be heard in District Court, and that the city selectively enforced its laws by targeting the highly visible tent city rather than cite other homeless people living in city parks or squares.

He also argued that the city has an obligation to care for the homeless and poor under an older state law. “When people are in need, the city is required to provide relief,” he said, “particularly when all else fails.”

But McHugh argued that the earlier law “was passed before Roosevelt and the New Deal,” and has been replaced by a host of federal programs and remedies, including welfare, food stamps and social-security benefits. There are no more directors of public welfare, asylums or state infirmaries, he said.

McHugh recommended the Sept. 28 moving date for the homeless camp, and Judge Lanphear thanked the city for seeking relief in court rather than arresting the group.

Lanphear also commended defense witness Catherine Rhodes for her outreach work among the homeless.

Rhodes, a member of the advocacy group People to End Homelessness, “has taught us an awful lot about what is happening on our city streets,” Lanphear said.

De Simone said he was disappointed in the judge’s ruling, but thought it was “significant” that Lanphear noted the growing problem of the city’s homeless. “He put it on the record.”

Members of Camp Runamuck II were displeased with the ruling.

“I’m tired of moving,” said Christopher D’Ambra, 32, outside the courtroom. “What does it say on the Statue of Liberty? Give me your tired, your weak and your poor. Well, we’re tired, weak and poor.”

pdavis@projo.com