‘How do we help you get prepared?’ Advocates seek to aid homeless in event of possible ‘sweep’
NORRISTOWN — A path primed for bicyclists passes by a slice of land just beyond the Schuylkill River Trail. For about a dozen people, the land is their home. Those experiencing homelessness reside just beyond the green leaves and surrounding foliage.
“One of the reasons why people go along a bike path is because there’s usually some wooded stretch near it and parts of it other than the path itself are spaces that people don’t usually use,” said Mark Boorse, director of program development for Access Services, which is contracted by the county to deal with homelessness. “So you have land that people don’t actually care that much about.”
That shaded land and the people living on it have stepped into the spotlight recently, as rumblings about the potential need for people to vacate the land have been circulating.
The stretch of land in question, in which 3,000 square feet is owned by PECO, acts as an electric transmission corridor. The area encompasses a portion of the trail’s Norristown section, between Pearl and Buttonwood streets.
No trash bin for homeless
Community members helped to rid the area of some trash back in April, but abandoned tents, clothes and other garbage remained.
“I always say, next time you take your trash out, stand by wherever you take your trash to a dumpster, or to a trash can, and just say ‘if I couldn’t do this tonight where would I put my trash, and for how long do you think I could put it there?’” Boorse said.
“There is no trash removal [for the homeless]. So then it piles up and at some point it hits a tipping point,” he continued. “The public notices, the public is upset, and so that has happened. People saw trash along the bike trail, and they said this is unacceptable.”
While PECO owns the stretch of land in question, Boorse noted the “bike trail (is) overseen by the county,” and is located within the geographic boundaries of the Municipality of Norristown.
“That in itself poses a little bit of a question of who’s responsible for what,” Boorse said.
PECO poised to clean up land?
Boorse recalled “PECO said that they were going to come clean up.”
“Our Street Outreach team was notified by PECO that they were in fact going to do this, and that they were not in that exact moment giving a formal notification that people needed to leave, but that that should be anticipated,” Boorse said. “That’s where we are.”
“The process has been for us to say we’re hearing this, and … how do we help you get prepared?” Boorse said.
Boorse stressed Access Services and the Street Outreach division have maintained regular contact with individuals. Those conversations include speaking with people about alternative locations and procuring any needed supplies. But it means people could be faced with a difficult choice to make.
“Somebody finds a spot, and it works for them, and then telling them they have to leave means they have to find another spot,” Boorse said. “There’s no guarantee…”
Time frame uncertain
When asked when a move might happen, Boorse said he’d initially heard “in the coming weeks.”
“We don’t know for sure. The thing that we heard is a 72-hour notice,” Boorse said.
“We’re sort of in this limbo of expecting people to be told that they’re going to need to leave, but not being sure exactly when that will be,” Boorse said. “That leaves people with sort of a quandary.”
“Do you up and leave right now? You have stuff. How much stuff can you take with you? How hard is it to take with you,” he continued. “Lots of people sort of accumulate — you get a tent and then you get another tent to put your storage stuff in … moving all at once is kind of hard.”
When asked, a person affiliated with PECO stressed “72 hours is not the case.”
“This vegetation work is essential, and as a result must be performed to ensure electric reliability for our customers,” PECO said in a statement to MediaNews Group. “However, no plans have been finalized as to when our reliability work will occur, there is no imminent work planned, and our work is not connected to any other borough properties.”
What does this mean for area homeless?
Boorse said others were previously were staying at Riverfront Park, but vacated about 100 yards away amid ongoing construction. He acknowledged it speaks to the bigger issue at hand.
“It just reflects the fact that people hide, and then when they get found, people think, ‘oh this is a new problem’ when really it’s just the re-hiding of a problem that existed nearby,” Boorse said.
Cheryl Spaulding, 63, has been staying in a tent near the bike path for nearly one year. Over the past few weeks she’s taken up the mindset of just “going from day-to-day.” When asked if she had worries about the potential need to move, she didn’t appear overly concerned.
“Truthfully, no,” she said. “Normally I am. I’m one of those that freak out … but no.”
Speaking on the springtime clean up, Boorse stressed there were some “legit issues,” adding that “trash is trash. It shouldn’t be there.”
He previously said people who used to stay in Riverfront Park had to go elsewhere, referencing a municipal ordinance passed in August 2022 that prohibited people from being in the park overnight.
“People were leaving trash in parks,” Boorse said. “People would come to use a park and find needles on the ground. People who are homeless get blamed for that. There’s no question that some of that is some of the people who are experiencing homelessness, but there’s also people who come to use a park to do drugs, and they also have a place to be, so they leave their trash behind.”
Norristown council president shares constituent concerns
Concerns of the encampments in the municipality have reached Norristown Municipal Council President Thomas Lepera.
Lepera has long attributed several factors for the area’s uptick in homelessness, including the number of the county’s social services agencies located within the municipality, which he stressed contributes to “the tune of about $3 million in lost tax revenue each and every year.”
Additionally, the Coordinated Homeless Outreach Center, a 50-bed homeless shelter and resource center situated on the grounds of the Norristown State Hospital closed last June, amid the acquisition of 68 acres of state land to the Municipality.
“When you add in a pandemic and a flood, and a couple other natural disasters, the homeless population surges, and now you have encampments,” Lepera said.
Lepera said he and other council members have been contacted by constituents living “in these areas where these encampments are,” sharing issues spanning from drug use to loitering outside of businesses.
Lepera said one person was “saying how bad they want to move out, wish(ed) they could afford to move out because … their six-year-old daughter almost stepped on a hypodermic needle.”
Other calls from area businesses have witnessed “somebody bathing naked in a creek” and other proprietors who’ve had “people sleeping outside of their doorway” as they’re serving food.
“This is what not only myself, but the rest of this council has dealt with…” Lepera said, referring to the complaints.
‘You need to be outside elsewhere’
While Boorse and his team have done their best to prepare individuals, in the event of a “sweep,” his chief concern is what happens to those affected?
“All this conversation is where outside are you going to be if you can’t be here? I mean that’s it,” Boorse said. “There’s not shelter space available. The waiting list for sheltering space and the waiting space for housing is very long and so saying to somebody you need to not be here is really saying to a person you need to be outside elsewhere, and that’s it.”
“So then the person is left with the dilemma of figuring out where outside is that going to be,” Boorse continued. “Where can I be hidden? Where might I be safe? Is it even practical?”
Aside from safety concerns, Boorse said the thought of uplifting their lives can be “ super stressful, it’s anxiety producing,” which can take a toll for all involved.
“Not having space that’s yours; not having a place to lock something and keep something safe takes its toll on people and then you upset that,” Boorse said. “You get sort of your thing worked out and then it gets upset and then you have to get spread out somewhere else.”
“For people who are offering services that means you have to re-find people and then figure all of that out. When they moved, did their medication make it with them? Or, they moved and didn’t get their tarp put up right so their medication got wet,” he continued. “All of those little things are actually really big.”
PECO also acknowledged county and municipal officials in their statement Friday afternoon that read in part: “We understand that Montgomery County and Norristown Borough are working with agencies and advocates to develop protocols for relocation activity, and we will be guided by those protocols. This includes providing advance outreach and connecting individuals with support services. PECO’s goal is to ensure any unsheltered individuals on our property are treated with dignity and respect.”
Montgomery County Chief Operating Officer Lee Soltysiak issued a statement to MediaNews Group on the subject.
“Homelessness is a serious matter affecting the lives of far too many people countywide, and we must work together to solve it,” Soltysiak said in a statement. “In cases where it is necessary to remove people from private or public property, the county has established clear guidelines on how to humanely and compassionately manage those situations. The county has devoted significant resources to address homelessness and housing insecurity, but we cannot do it alone. We must work together, at all levels of government, to assist the unhoused population countywide.”
Representatives from the Municipality of Norristown had no comment at this time.
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