Several tents and occupants of an encampment near the Capital Area Greenbelt, off S. Cameron Street, remained at the site on Thursday, the eviction date.
On Thursday morning, Shawn Sweeney wheeled a small cart of items up a dirt ramp, connecting the wooded nature of the Greenbelt trail to Shanois Street, a small side road off of industrial S. Cameron Street.
He waited on a friend with a car to help transport his belongings, which, for several months, resided with him at a small homeless encampment tucked next to the Greenbelt.
Sweeney had only recently found out about Harrisburg’s notice to evict residents of the encampment, which city officials say is largely located on private property, with a small portion on city property, on Thursday, June 1.
Sweeney said that he came to the Greenbelt encampment after two years of living at the longtime encampment under the Mulberry Street Bridge on S. Cameron Street. In January, Harrisburg evicted residents from that encampment, citing health and safety concerns. Now, he had to move again.
Local organizations have come by the Greenbelt encampment to offer assistance with the move, Sweeney explained, but he felt that he didn’t receive any clear instruction about where he should move to, he said.
“They said they had no idea where we should go,” he said. “We had to figure it out.
Sweeney plans to move further up the Greenbelt trail, closer to the Steelton city line.
According to Matt Maisel, communications director for Harrisburg, the city’s “hands were tied” as it faced pressure from the owner of the private land that much of the encampment sits on, as well as members of the Capital Area Greenbelt Association, which has its annual Tour de Belt on Sunday, June 4. The city issued the eviction notice two weeks ago, on May 18.
The city has given the 15 or so encampment occupants until 3 p.m. on Thursday to leave the area. Maisel said that police have been notified of the situation, but will only get involved if needed.
“We hope they [the police] don’t have to,” Maisel said. “Service providers have been tremendous in helping to move along the process.”
On Thursday, Ron, Shelby and their dog Tucker remained at the encampment, along with several others who hadn’t left yet. The pair worked to pack up their belongings, which included a few tents, coolers, bins of items and clothing, among lots of other items. Like Sweeney, they said that they also previously lived under the Mulberry Street Bridge.
Ron and Shelby’s dog Tucker eats while the couple packs up their belongings.
Ron and Shelby plan to move to a nearby location along Cameron Street, deeper in the woods. They hope, the deeper they go, the harder it will be for people to find and move them again.
However, venturing out on your own also poses a risk, as people like Ron and Shelby rely on area service providers for food and water. The more isolated they are, and the more that camps are scattered, the harder it is for those providing aid to find them.
“We rely on the food boxes,” Shelby said. “We don’t know if we are going to get them anymore because we’ll be scattered.”
For that reason, another occupant, who asked to be referred to by her first initial, “Y,” said that she planned to move to the large, long-time encampment in South Harrisburg, near the PennDOT building. While she didn’t want to move there, she felt she had no other option, she said.
Y said that a service provider with Dauphin County helped find a site for her at the encampment near PennDOT and is helping her move her belongings over.
“There’s not where else to go,” she said. “I’m trying not to stress, but I’m overwhelmed.”
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