ALLENTOWN, Pa. — As City Hall defends a lawsuit over a homeless encampment in Jordan Meadows, state lawmakers have advanced legislation that would make it easier for people living near such camps to force local governments to take action.
Under SB 780, people living or owning property within 1,600 feet of a homeless camp could petition municipalities to identify it as a public nuisance.
Governments would have 90 days to make a determination. If the municipality determines it is a public nuisance, it would either start a process that would require the property owner to break up the camp or make the owner liable for any dangerous conditions created by the camp.
If a local government finds a homeless encampment isn't a public nuisance, the bill would allow petitioners to appeal the decision in Commonwealth Court.
"I have not met a constituent who would want this homeless encampment next to their home. It becomes an issue of public safety."State Sen. Jarrett Coleman, R-Lehigh/Bucks
State Sen. Jarrett Coleman, R-Lehigh/Bucks, one of the bill's co-sponsors, said the goal of the measure is to create an avenue for residents to force local governments into action. Homeless encampments often lead to issues of sanitation, drug crime, public nudity and fire safety, he said. Local residents shouldn't be forced to deal with those issues because municipal governments refuse to clear them out, Coleman said.
"I have not met a constituent who would want this homeless encampment next to their home," he said. "It becomes an issue of public safety."
More power to the people
Coleman said he did not have Jordan Meadows in mind when he signed on as a co-sponsor but said it serves as a great example of what its trying to address. Developer Nat Hyman, one of the city's most prominent developers, has sued the city for failing to maintain the park where it abuts four of his properties.
Homeless people have set up tents in the park and frequently trespass onto his nearby properties to defecate, urinate and access water and electricity without permission, Hyman alleges. He said he's repeatedly called on city officials to address the situation but that they have failed to do so.
Coleman said that people shouldn't be forced to live alongside these camps, but few Pennsylvanians have the resources to have their day in court. The bill would give residents due process and better footing to defend their quality of life.
"The reality is most Pennsylvanians don’t have the resources to challenge cities or municipalities in court," he said.
The bill passed the state Senate last month by a 36-14 vote with bipartisan support. All three of the Lehigh Valley's senators backed the bill, including Sens. Lisa Boscola and Nick Miller, both D-Lehigh/Northampton.
Boscola attempted to amend the bill by only making it apply to private property owners but her proposal lacked a vote. As it stands, the bill doesn't give municipalities the tools to address the underlying issues that created to the camp in the first place, she wrote in an email. She opted to support what she called a flawed bill in hopes that the House would fix the issues for local governments, she wrote.
"In the end, I voted to advance this bill because I support holding absentee private property owners accountable for unauthorized encampments that impact the quality of life for all residents," Boscola said.
'Where are people supposed to go?'
Mayor Matt Tuerk expressed surprise when told of Miller and Boscola's support for the bill.
Given the liabilities the bill would place on local governments, they would almost always be on the hook to clear out an encampment once it received a petition. Given the lack of resources available to municipalities, that would leave the affected homeless people to set up camp at another spot, Tuerk said.
"They’re not proposing any solution to the actual problem. They are proposing for cities to bulldoze encampments."Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk
But that second camp would be vulnerable to the same petition process that cleared out the first camp, he said. Municipalities would be left footing the bill for an endless cycle of evictions under the proposal. The bill drew the opposition of the Pennsylvania Municipal League on those grounds.
"They’re not proposing any solution to the actual problem. They are proposing for cities to bulldoze encampments. It doesn’t do anything to address the underlying issues," Tuerk said.
Dawn Godshall, executive director of Community Action Lehigh Valley, offered similar criticisms. People are driven to homelessness not by choice but from job losses, mental health and a lack of resources, she said.
Tackling the underlying social ills is the only way to seriously address Pennsylvania's homelessness problem, she said.
"If we do not address these root issues — insufficient wages, lack of affordable housing and untreated mental health challenges — then policies designed only to clear encampments will fail to provide real solutions. We must ask ourselves: Where are people supposed to go?" she said in a statement.
House consideration
After passage in the Senate, the bill has been assigned to the House's Local Government Committee. State Rep. Robert Freeman, D-Northampton, the committee's chair, said he doesn't foresee the bill advancing short of a major rewrite.
While he respects the desire to deal with the public nuisances that come with camps, the bill is too punitive and heavy-handed, Freeman said.
Municipalities should be addressing public nuisance issues under existing code enforcement, he said. If they don't, residents have the option to take the matter to court — just as Hyman has.
"There is a problem with growing homelessness, but this is not how you address the problem," he said.
