ALLENTOWN, Pa. — City officials next week are set to start the process to clear another homeless encampment along Jordan Creek.
Mayor Matt Tuerk last week told LehighValleyNews.com that a camp south of where the Hamilton Street bridge crosses the creek would be “next” to be shut down by the city.
“There’s about 20 residents that are in a floodplain that we’re going to have to evacuate,” he said Oct. 16. “But we have to make sure that we have the resources available to do that evacuation compassionately.”
A count by city officials this week found 37 tents in the area to be evicted, Tuerk said Thursday.
Public works employees and police will post no trespassing signs Monday. One part of the camp will be cleared starting Nov. 10, with the other part to be cleared a week later.
'Minimum disruption'
The Allentown Health Bureau will set up a trailer to help service providers connect with displaced residents during that period.
The cleanup is scheduled to start two weeks after trespassing notices are posted. That gives camp residents “some time to make an adjustment” and allows the city to “pull our resources together” for the effort, Tuerk said.
City officials aim to cause residents “minimum disruption to an already precarious life,” Tuerk said.
A group of residents from the camp attended last week’s council meeting. They said they were told they had to leave but weren’t given a timeline.
“We’ve got to worry about moving every so often; it doesn’t help us because then we’re concentrating on that and not concentrating on getting ourselves in a better situation."A man from the homeless camp set to be shut down
A man who’s lived there several months told LehighValleyNews.com he was “making sure my site’s cleaned up" and staying ready to move at a moment's notice.
He voiced support for a measure in front of Allentown City Council that would establish procedures and timelines for evicting homeless camps.
Giving homeless residents more time and notice before evictions would let some find other options, he said.
“We’ve got to worry about moving every so often; it doesn’t help us because then we’re concentrating on that and not concentrating on getting ourselves in a better situation,” he said.
Second camp clearing
Tuerk on Thursday called the imminent eviction “an extension of the previous cleanup,” in which crews bulldozed a homeless camp about a mile north along the same creek.
The mayor in early August ordered people living in an encampment near the Jordan Creek to vacate in less than three weeks. He cited an analysis by the Allentown Fire Department that showed the area to be a significant flood risk.
Residents there said more than 100 people lived in the camp some nights. Many said they were left stunned by Tuerk’s eviction order.
The mayor last fall ordered city employees to help clean up encampments instead of clearing them out, a directive that gave hope to camp residents but prompted a legal challenge from a developer who owns nearby properties.
Nat Hyman alleged residents lowered the values of his properties. Hyman dropped his lawsuit Sept. 30, a day after residents were evicted and city bulldozers started clearing the camp.
Tuerk delayed the eviction by about five weeks to give the Allentown YMCA enough time to get its cold-weather overnight shelter up and running ahead of schedule.
The shelter opened the same day bulldozers got to work.
It served 65 people Wednesday night, according to the mayor. That would leave 15 beds open for residents of the 37-tent camp that’s set to be cleared next month.
