Dennise Hill, Harrisburg’s director of building and housing development, spoke to the press on Monday.
A Harrisburg homeless encampment has been largely vacated, as the city makes plans for a final cleanup of the site.
At a Monday press conference, city officials stated that only about five people, out of about 70 originally, remained beneath the Mulberry Street Bridge.
This followed a 10-day effort to encourage people to relocate after the city said that health and crime problems were forcing them to shut down the encampment.
“Those who remain at the Mulberry Street encampment right now, the city and CACH (Capital Area Coalition on Homelessness) will continue to work with these individuals to get through what is obviously an immensely difficult time,” said Matt Maisel, the city’s communications director. “No arrests will be made. No one will be taken into custody because—and this is very important to note—being homeless is not a crime.”
According to Maisel, some people displaced from the Mulberry Street Bridge site have migrated to the city’s other large homeless encampment, near the PennDOT building and the I-83 bridge in south Harrisburg. Others have gone to shelters and treatment facilities, while a few have been reunited with family.
Maisel said that he didn’t expect some of the problems common in the Mulberry Street Bridge encampment, such as drug sales, to migrate to the large encampment in south Harrisburg because that area is more isolated, better controlled and more difficult to access for criminals.
The city had identified an alternate location farther down Cameron Street for a potential temporary encampment. A few people moved there, but no one has stayed, and the site is currently empty, according to city officials.
In addition, the city estimates that about half of the people beneath the Mulberry Street Bridge on any given day did not reside there, but just frequented the area. A number of those people have been arrested due to outstanding warrants and other criminal charges, Maisel said.
Beginning on Tuesday, the city plans to begin the cleanup process beneath the bridge. The trash removal process will take about 48 hours, Maisel said.
“Once that is complete, an exterminating company will come in and get to work on the rat issue,” he said. “This will take in the neighborhood of about six weeks.”
During the extermination process, no one will be allowed beneath the bridge, due to health concerns, Maisel added. Afterwards, the city can’t force people to stay away, as most of the land underneath the bridge is state-owned, controlled by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, he said.
“PennDOT is aware of what’s going on,” Maisel said. “I believe their official statement is that they’re monitoring the situation.”
Dennise Hill, the city’s director of building and housing development and the president of CACH, said that the city and nonprofits will continue to work with the remaining five occupants to encourage them to leave before the extermination process begins.
She added that camp shut-down has been a delicate, one-on-one process that took into account the needs of each individual.
“It’s not about us pushing people out,” she said. “We are actively working with individuals to find the resource that works best for them.”
These have included shelter facilities, rehabilitation and family reunions, she said. Longer term, the city and the nonprofits want to work together to provide more affordable housing, workforce development and other initiatives to combat homelessness in Harrisburg, she said.
During the press conference, Maisel praised the service organizations for their help in relocating those living beneath the bridge.
“What we’ve seen in the past week and what you’re going to see moving forward, because those conversations have already started, is the city of Harrisburg working in earnest with its valuable nonprofits for the first time in recent history to actually address the issue of homelessness in the city of Harrisburg,” he said.
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