PHILADELPHIA (AP) - City officials have told homeless people in two encampments in Philadelphia, one of them on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, to leave by Tuesday morning, saying they believe further negotiations with encampment leaders would be fruitless.
The city posted a notice Monday saying people at the parkway and Ridge Avenue encampments need to pack up and leave by 9 a.m. Tuesday.
The tent encampment on a baseball field on the parkway, which began on June 10 and grew to an estimated 100 to 150 people, was originally slated to be closed July 10, but the mayor postponed the action in hopes of reaching a resolution.
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Mayor Jim Kenney said Monday, however, that after weeks of face-to-face discussions he had concluded that further negotiations would do no good. He said leaders’ demands keep shifting, and some of their demands are out of the city’s control or unachievable in the time they demand.
City officials said they had agreed to support some options, such as a temporary encampment elsewhere if supported by residents and their elected council member, a “tiny house” village, new housing and a community land trust. Officials also said shelter, safe haven and treatment beds are available as well as COVID-19 prevention spaces.
Philadelphia Housing Action - the coalition of groups that organized the encampment - said it was conceived as a form of political protest over city policies toward the homeless and the lack of low-income housing in the city.
Organizer Jennifer Bennetch called the decision to shutter the encampment “disheartening and disturbing.” She strongly contested the charge of shifting demands, saying “Our demands have always been the same. These are the demands I’ve had as an activist for four years: getting people housed,” The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
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