HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Residents of tent city in downtown Harrisburg say a recent arrest of a homeless man has put a negative spotlight on a situation few choose to be in.
Ronald Hyde, 44, was arrested Thursday for breaking into a Dauphin County building, around the block from where he, and two dozen more of the city's homeless, live in a tent city along Blackberry Street outside Market Square Presbyterian Church.
Matt Smith, a fellow resident of the Blackberry Street tent city, said Hyde is not a bad person. However, Smith fears Hyde's arrest, which included drug paraphernalia possession charges, brings up a stereotype that all homeless are drug dealers and addicts.
Smith says he's lived in the tent city for the last two and a half months.
"I was living in a hotel room, the money ran out, and here I am," he said.
His tent is like one you'd see at a campground. Except, instead of being surrounded by quiet forest, Smith sees the Dauphin County Courthouse outside his tent flap, with the heavy traffic of Second Street and Front Street a few feet away.
This tent city popped up in November, with the blessing of Market Square Presbyterian. Homeless have been sheltering in sleeping bags along the side of the church for years, said Pastor Kelly Wiant. It wasn't until November when tents were given to the homeless to put a roof over their heads.
"As long as you care for this (tent) community, you're welcome to be here," Wiant said. "And we'll be happy to offer hospitality to you."
The church allows tent city residents to occasionally use a shower facility inside. In March, during a snowstorm, many of the tents outside the church collapsed under the weight of the snow. The church gave everyone shelter and food inside.
"Most of us don't understand that any of us could end up here. We're a paycheck away. One disaster away," Wiant said.
However, when the church allowed the tent city to pop up in November, they did so before telling city and county officials. Many of the tents block a sidewalk along Blackberry Street, which people use to get to the courthouse or the adjacent parking garage.
Wiant says there was an agreement made with the city to allow the tents to remain up during the winter but would eventually have to come down. Tent city residents agreed May 1 as the deadline to clear out.
"The police have been kind and willing to let men and women stay here," Wiant said. "So, when you make verbal agreement, you need to honor that."
Where will everyone go, though? Like many cities, homelessness is a major problem. Smith says his is one of a handful of tent cities across Harrisburg, but the only one where tents are coming down because of its proximity to city and county buildings.
"They've let it come to this," he says of the city. "I don't believe that people don't care about homeless population, they just don't want to see it in their own backyard."
Bethesda Mission is one of a few long term homeless shelters in the city. They won't turn anyone away, said Scott Dunwoody, the Mission's executive director, but they are running out of space.
"We are not at capacity. We're over capacity," Dunwoody said.
Bethesda Mission has 78 beds, but is averaging 100 to 120 men coming in every night, he said. During the winter months, that number rises from 150 to 170 on any given night. To accommodate, mattresses are laid out on the chapel floor.
"It's a chronic problem," Dunwoody says of the city's homelessness.
Dunwoody says he's working with the Capital Area Coalition on Homelessness to introduce more "day shelters," or spots to give homeless a roof over their head for the night.
"If we can find property, renovate properties, and find space for homeless to come in, we can make changes for some of them."
Dunwoody says "some of them," because a handful, he admits, would rather stay on the streets.
People like Matt Smith, however, are looking for a job, and a home. He might be disappointed in the city he's lived in since 1972, but he hasn't lost hope.
Smith says, with a confident laugh, "I still tell everyone this is my town."