ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A small group of people living in a row of tents along the Little Lehigh Creek will be allowed to stay there while seeking safer alternatives.
Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk on Friday morning postponed the creek-side camp’s pending clear-out, which was slated to start Monday.
City officials made that decision after reviewing the process that led to no trespassing and eviction notices being posted there April 10.
“We understand the consequences of asking a person to leave a source of stability. We do not take that lightly.”Mayor Matt Tuerk
A draft administrative policy on encampment “evacuations” was under review last week but not in place until Thursday. It would have required more approvals from city officials and notification for service providers, Tuerk said.
He maintains his concerns over the safety of the creekside camp, but he said he recognizes he must balance its flood risk against the serious risks that come with forcing people to vacate.
“We understand the consequences of asking a person to leave a source of stability,” Tuerk said. “We do not take that lightly.”
Danielle Mineo, the city's unhoused services coordinator, is set to lead the effort to connect residents to “safe alternative housing,” Tuerk said Friday morning in a message to council.
Mineo and a service provider visited the camp Friday morning to inform residents they could stay past Monday, according to city Councilwoman Ce-Ce Gerlach.
Homeless people in Allentown need “a temporary solution that doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to be better than what we have now.”Councilwoman Ce-Ce Gerlach
Gerlach said she learned of the mayor's decision from a camp resident, who told her, “I feel like I can breathe.”
Hearing “that is enough” to know council's efforts to stop the eviction were worthwhile, she said.
Gerlach on Wednesday introduced an emergency resolution — unanimously approved by her colleagues — that urged Tuerk to delay.
Council also is calling on city and Lehigh County leaders to find a place for homeless residents to safely camp.
They need “a temporary solution that doesn't have to be perfect,” Gerlach said. “It just has to be better than what we have now.”
Whose call?
Managing Director Frank Kane said this week that the city Public Works Department made the decision with little input from officials or service providers.
He walked that back Friday evening.
The decision to shut down the camp was made without proper input from all departments that should've been consulted, Kane said, but he didn't identify who made the final call.
He said he misspoke when laying the decision on the Public Works employees, who physically posted the signs at the camp.
Councilwoman Cynthia Mota called that mischaracterization "really unfair" and said the Public Works Department was scapegoated.
Mota, who chairs council's public works committee, said the department is often among the last to get involved with encampment evictions.
