A group of homeless individuals were displaced Wednesday when their encampment in a small wooded area just off Lincoln Highway East in East Lampeter Township was cleared.
Outreach workers spent much of the day helping them relocate and rescuing their belongings after they were forced out of the site, which sits between a Walmart Supercenter and the East Towne Center shopping plaza.
One of the people in the encampment called the Lancaster County Food Hub early Wednesday morning, pleading “please come get us,” Executive Director Paige McFarling said.
Members of her team went out with a truck and made several round trips carrying individuals and their effects, including sleeping bags, tents, clothing and cooking utensils.
In all, eight people were assisted, said Doug McFarling, a Food Hub outreach specialist.
Five have been placed temporarily in a local hotel, he said, along with a dog. Transportation was arranged for another two people who had a place to stay in Harrisburg. The eighth person was at work during the incident, but his belongings were rescued. The Food Hub is providing temporary storage for his items and those of the others.
The Refresh Lancaster shower trailer was deployed in the Food Hub parking lot to give those who wanted it a chance to shower and change clothes.
A few other individuals who were at the encampment made their own way to another encampment in the area, Doug McFarling said.
Deb Jones, director of the Office of the Lancaster County Homelessness Coalition, said action was taken promptly when the coalition was alerted that the encampment was going to be cleared “within the hour.” Besides the Food Hub, staff members from Tenfold, Blueprints for Addiction Recovery and Jones’ office met with the displaced individuals “to preserve belongings and assist with needs.”
The outreach workers who assisted at the site said a Bobcat-style machine with a chipper device was used to mow down the trees and brush on the property.
The county’s online GIS map indicates the property line between Walmart and East Towne Center runs roughly down the middle of the wooded area. In an emailed statement, a Walmart spokesman said the landowners had been contacted by elected leaders “to help address concerns with the property.”
“Cleanup has been ongoing for several months, and with the help of local law enforcement and Haz Mat crews, we conducted final debris removal on Wednesday,” the email said. “Encampment occupants were notified of the site work days in advance.”
Representatives of East Towne Center’s ownership did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Food Hub outreach specialist Lenny Pelsinski said individuals at the encampment had said they’d been alerted to the clearing a few days earlier and told they would have to be out by Friday.
Jones said outreach workers were told it was Walmart that had arranged to have the site cleared. Messages left by One United Lancaster with both property owners were not immediately returned.
The individuals in the encampment are familiar to the city’s outreach workers, Jones said, and previously frequented areas such as Binns Park and Culliton Park.
That ended around mid-August, when city police, in response to concerns over crime, health and hygiene, stepped up enforcement of the city’s no-trespassing ordinace, which bars sleeping in public areas.
Dr. Willam Fife Jr. of the Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health street medicine team told state lawmakers at a recent hearing that the resulting dispersal has made it more difficult to reach people and provide services and has made the homeless population more distrustful.
Lancaster County, like counties around the country, has been struggling with a surge in homelessness. In January, the coalition tabulated 597 unhoused people in its annual “Point-in-Time” count, up 13.5% over 2023 and the highest since 2010.
At the end of June, the low-barrier shelter at 242 N. Prince St., which had provided up to 80 beds over the winter, closed for good. The coalition is renovating space at Otterbein United Methodist Church for a new 80-bed shelter that is expected to open in December; in the meantime, it is working to manage the situation through expanded street outreach.
(Editor’s Note: This story was updated Thursday, Sept. 26, to add comment from Walmart.)
