The City of Wilmington is working to relocate those in the Christina Park encampment ahead of its June 15th closure date- which is moving forward despite pushback from Wilmington City Council.
The Christina Park encampment was sanctioned by the City last October with the goal of addressing the homeless population in the city, but Mayor John Carney says it was always meant to be a temporary solution- and defended its closure in a June 5th press release.
Deputy Chief of Staff Daniel Walker says the encampment has produced what the Carney Administration is calling success for many of its residents.
“Since January 5th we have served 85 people, we have completed 55 comprehensive needs assessments- where we identified the causes for why someone is living on the street and a concerted strategy to
move them out of street homelessness. We placed 49 people into stable housing” he said.
Walker says stable housing could mean treatment programs, independent housing or housing with friends or family. The majority - 25 individuals- were placed at the Hope Center.
2 individuals residing in the encampment have been arrested.
19 people have declined to engage with the City’s offers of support according to Walker, something Wilmington Housing Authority executive director Ray Fitzgerald says is not uncommon.
“Some people will accept help, some people don't trust anybody. They don’t trust government, don’t trust social workers, don’t trust whoever- and they won’t accept the help because they’re, like, libertarians. You know? They want to live their lives how they live their lives, and they don’t want to be bothered.” he said.
Walker says they’ll continue to reach out to those people even past the June 15th closure date.
Fitzgerald notes the WHA will also continue to offer help, including its recently introduced lead abatement program, which offers training and guaranteed employment to those who accept it.
"We received a grant from the federal government to abate the lead in our units, the WHA units. As part of [that], we created a lead abatement training program." he said. "We hire a company from New Jersey... they train our folks to do lead abatement, we get them certified... and then the vendors we have hire our folks" he said.
Once certified, those individuals can do lead abatement anywhere, not just in WHA units, according to Fitzgerald. He says that program is a path to steady employment, which is a key factor is getting someone out of street homelessness.
Mayor John Carney says those leaving the encampment can store their belongings at 600 East 4th Street. Another Front Street location will eventually offer personal item storage as well.
He says the city is still trying to implement recommendations delivered last year by the Wilmington Task Force on Homelessness. Some, like the encampment itself, he's calling a success- but others, he notes, are struggling.
"We've engaged with city council for consideration of these three parcels that we've identified... so that the land could be used for a pallet village... similar to Georgetown" he said. "There are two main questions... where are you going to put it, and who's going to pay for it?"
Other recommendations include things like a drop-in center, which would offer daytime access and a dining hall. $1 million in bond bill funding has been secured by the city- and they're proposing 600 East 4th Street -the same one being offered as a storage area- to eventually become the drop-in project.
Carney's budget for FY27 was signed with a $13 million investment into housing initiatives, including "$8.4 million to provide direct subsidize for affordable rental and homeownership units" according to the city.
Carney notes camping at the park will again be unlawful after June 15th, but he did not explicitly threaten direct police action should anyone stay.
