HARRISBURG, Pa. — The City of Harrisburg is preparing to remove a homeless encampment along Riverfront Park on Friday and has set a deadline of 3 p.m. for its residents to leave.
City officials say the encampment had been there since late fall of 2023. They had warned those living there that it was illegal to do so but declined to remove them during the winter months.
Officials say with the weather becoming warmer and events coming up in the spring, this is now the time to remove the encampment.
"Now that it is springtime, Riverfront Park is in use on an almost daily basis," said city spokesperson Matt Maisel. "It is ultimately the city's responsibility to make sure that the residents have clean and safe parks to play in and clean and safe streets to live in. And when it is unsanitary to the point where it is affecting the lives of the residents at large, we have to do something."
Maisel says the encampment had become filled with drug paraphernalia and trash, and that it was unsafe for park-goers.
Homeless advocates say that while they understand the city's decision, it will prove difficult for those living in the tents without a home.
"There's just really not many other places that they consider safe to be," said Darrell Reinford, the executive director of social services group Christian Churches United. "We know that these folks also need a place to live. And so we're doing our best to try to help them [let them] know that people care and want to help them."
The city gave encampment residents verbal notice of the removal one month ago.
Reinford says that without a long-term solution, encampments and their removals will continue to happen.
"We definitely need more emergency shelters, particularly for couples that are together," Reinford said. "There's not really very many good shelter options right now. And then long term in terms of solutions, we need additional affordable housing, and continually strengthened case management for people."
Reinford acknowledges that those currently living in Riverfront Park will likely go to the encampment near the PennDOT building, which is expected to be bulldozed early next year as part of the I-83 expansion project.
Maisel says the city has been working with Dauphin County and the Shapiro administration to find long-term solutions for the homeless population before this happens.
"We know that we're running out of time," Maisel said. "The good thing is we are having extraordinarily productive meetings between the city, county and governor's office to come up with those long-term solutions."
Personal items left at the encampment after 3 p.m. on Friday will be stored for 30 days on 1820 Paxton Street to be picked up by their owners.