Parkersburg will clean up abandoned homeless camps: A look into the city’s response to homelessness

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) - Parkersburg will soon start taking down six homeless encampments believed to be abandoned.

WTAP reached out to West Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness to confirm that the camps are abandoned and were told that, while there isn’t a 100% way to know, they are as sure as they can be that the sites have not been recently inhabited.

The plan is, weather permitting, crews will begin the clean up process early next week. For now, signs are posted notifying people that the former camps will be taken down.

Mayor Joyce believes the former encampments have become dump sites.

He explained the situation.

“There are six total sites that are just full of litter…all myriad manners of detritus. I mean, everything from stuffed animals to remanded clothing, busted electronics. I mean, you name it…,” he said.

Cleaning up homeless encampments isn’t anything new to the City of Parkersburg.

Joyce said the city’s taken down about 12 camps over the past five years. However, this time, they’re hiring a third party contractor to do it for about $38,000.

“That’s not what our folks were hired to do. That’s not our core mission,” Joyce explained.

While homeless encampments can get dirty, it’s not because its former inhabitants didn’t care. Ellie Johnson with West Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness explained that homeless people are in a trauma mindset.

“The mindset of those who are experiencing homelessness - it’s not just ‘let’s be lazy and throw this away and have other people clean up our messes.’ It’s ‘I need to make sure that I’m safe, I need to make sure that I’m fed, I need to make sure that I’m warm…,” she said.

On top of that, homeless people don’t always have the resources to keep the space clean.

Johnson added, “If you’re experiencing homelessness and your blanket gets wet right? You don’t have anywhere to go and dry it or prevent mold or, if you have old food containers that you have or storage containers that have food in them, again where are you really going to put them without potentially being targeted for trespassing or getting fined for using a public dumpster?”

Plus shelters aren’t always an option for people experiencing homelessness.

Johnson explained, “Unfortunately if someone is experiencing homelessness and a severe mental health disorder or might be in active addiction or might have a past sex offense, a lot of those behaviors or past history for them might be a barrier for them seeking shelter in Wood County.”

A 2018 HUD report suggested that shortcomings in shelter systems throughout the U.S. are a primary reason many live in encampments. It listed potential shortcomings as a lack of capacity, shelter restrictions that would result in being separated from a partner, family member, or pet, safety concerns, sobriety requirements, etc.

A reminder that different shelters have different policies.

In Parkersburg, cleaning up encampments isn’t the only recent work that’s been done in response to homelessness in the area.

Joyce said, for the past year and a half, the city has been using homeless outreach coordinators to connect people living outside with resources.

Joyce elaborated, “It can be anything from getting someone into an apartment, helping them get into an apartment, getting someone into a shelter, getting someone into a treatment program. The reunification efforts that we’ve done is simply getting folks who aren’t from here, who have no friends or family here, back to where they’re from.”

If someone living outside commits a crime, Joyce said the city’s been using “law enforcement assisted diversion” as a technique. That means officials give the person the option of either being charged or going to a treatment program.

Still, homelessness remains a challenge for Parkersburg.

Joyce said, “I would hope that we can get to a point where we don’t need two full time homeless coordinators on the streets 40 hours a week but the reality is right now we still do.”

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