Wilmington City Councilmembers rallied around a resolution calling for a transition plan for Christina Park’s unhoused residents.
Mayor John Carney’s office announced last month it will close the city-sanctioned unhoused community site June 15.
City Councilmember Shané Darby offered a resolution to create a transition plan for Christina Park’s unhoused residents. She said she doesn’t blame Carney for homelessness in Wilmington.
“This resolution, one, asks that we don't sustain this eviction on June 15, that we allow the residents who are living there to stay there…” Darby said. “I was homeless and pregnant at 18, 19 years old, so I know firsthand that it's not a new issue. But we have to hold him accountable for a piss poor response to the issue today.”
Carney’s office stood by the decision, with their Director of Communications Caroline saying the site was always intended to be temporary.
“This decision was made to help strike that balance, and we've heard from a lot of residents of the surrounding community who are eager for the park to return to a more recreational use,” Klinger said last month.
While there are still non-profit workers on site connecting residents to housing and social services, Christina Park’s residents are not guaranteed housing by the time the park closes to them, leaving some without a city-sanctioned place to live.
Site managers at Friendship House hoped the park would remain open to unhoused individuals for a year and a half to two years.
Councilmember Christian Willauer voted in favor of the resolution seeking to stop resident’s eviction from the park.
“The encampment in Christina Park is a solution we need,” Willauer said. “But I also think that making everybody move out without having anywhere to go is going to destabilize people's lives and also destabilize our neighborhoods. So I think we can do better.”
Willauer said Councilmembers, the mayor and state officials should work together to better support Wilmington’s unhoused population. That means keeping the park open until all residents have found permanent, sustainable housing, Willauer added.
Councilmembers passed the resolution 9-0 with four absent.
