Allentown to shut down homeless encampment that sparked lawsuit

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — About 100 people living in an encampment near Allentown’s Jordan Creek will be forced out.

City employees are set to “post formal notices” Thursday telling residents of the area to vacate by Aug. 25, a city spokesperson confirmed Wednesday to LehighValleyNews.com.

Officials are moving to clear the encampment “in light of recent deadly flooding events across the country," according to the city’s statement.

It’s in an active flood zone, “posing a significant danger to those living there,” according to the statement.

“The city is supporting community partners in their efforts to connect individuals with services, while also exploring both short- and long-term solutions,” the statement says.

“The safety and well-being of all residents will always remain a top priority for the city.”

The encampment in the Jordan Meadows area is at the center of a lawsuit from Allentown landlord Nat Hyman, who owns several properties that neighbor it.

Hyman’s complaint alleges people who live there often trespass on his properties and sometimes illegally connect to water and utilities.

He is asking a Lehigh County judge to declare it a nuisance and order the city to “immediately abate and remedy” the area.

To clean or to clear?

The lawsuit is the first challenge to Mayor Matt Tuerk’s directive for city employees to clean up rather than clear out homeless encampments.

Judge Douglas Reichley last month shot down Allentown’s bid to have that lawsuit dismissed, but it could become moot if the encampment is cleared by the end of the month.

The mayor in April told LehighValleyNews.com that he changed the city’s approach because it solves nothing to “clear people out without a place to shelter.”

“It’s not really addressing the problem, it’s just brushing it aside,” he said. “Why just bulldoze somebody’s tent if they have nowhere else to go?”

Officers until last fall posted no-trespassing signs at encampments and let residents pack up their belongings to relocate before bulldozers cleared sites, a police official said in March.

But that practice will resume Thursday near Jordan Creek.

'Sickening': Councilwoman

Allentown City Councilwoman Ce-Ce Gerlach hit out at city officials Wednesday after learning of the encampment’s impending shutdown.

“It’s reprehensible,” Gerlach said. “It’s sickening; I’ve been sick to my stomach since I heard about it.”

Gerlach, who has said she slept in her car for months after getting a flat tire, said the decision to clear the encampment “will be a destruction to [residents’] lives, to their mental health, to their recovery.”

Residents at the encampment have long feared they would be displaced; “that fear escalated” after Hyman filed his lawsuit, Gerlach said.

Gerlach, who unsuccessfully pushed her colleagues to adopt a Homeless Bill of Rights, questioned the mayor’s resolve to support homeless residents.

“Not everyone has that fight in them,” Gerlach said while also questioning lawmakers’ priorities.

“We found $300,000 to have people walk around on Hamilton Street to help people back to their cars,” Gerlach said, referencing the city’s startup funding for the new Downtown Allentown Alliance.

“If we can find $300,000 to do that, we damn sure can find money to make sure people have a safer place to live.”

Forcing people to leave the area without offering them another place to go “retraumatizes” many and “could lead to some dire consequences” after President Donald Trump issued an executive order that could make it easier for local officials to clear encampments, she said.

The order redirects funding to move “individuals camping on streets and causing public disorder” to treatment centers and other facilities.

Critics say Trump’s measure criminalizes homelessness amid a widespread housing crisis.