Last month, Mayor John Carney announced Christina Park would no longer be a city-sanctioned unhoused community site. The park closed Monday alongside a peaceful protest calling for long-term solutions.
Carney said the park’s closure went as smoothly as possible and almost every resident found alternative shelter.
“We still have one or two that have refused service, and so we're still working with those folks,” Carney said Tuesday. “So that was the overall objective, and I think everybody that was there is now in a better shelter situation than sleeping in a tent in a city park.”
Friendship House reported no arrests occurred and every resident but one accepted their placement into alternative housing opportunities.
At a press conference last week, Carney said the city may need help from the state Attorney General for prosecutions if residents stay in the park after dark.
AG Kathy Jennings said in a written statement: “The City has the prerogative to change its mind, but the criminal justice system cannot be an escape hatch from a difficult situation.”
Tide Shift Justice Project organized a protest Monday as the encampment was closed. Executive Director Meryem Dede said it turned into more of a vigil as attendees watched the empty tents through a chainlink fence.
“Everyone's deserving of compassion and being treated with humanity, and that's not what we saw yesterday,” Dede said. “If you go to Christina Park now – if it looks like it did last night – you'll see a lot of collapsed tents and a lot of belongings strewn around. But you won't see any people there. But that doesn't mean that we've solved homelessness.”
Dede added some of Christina Park’s former residents were offered what she calls the “gold standard option” – a six month stay at the Hope Center. But she said the city needs more comprehensive, long-term solutions.
Nonprofits and social service workers offered former park residents a range of opportunities including hotel vouchers, stays at the Hope Center and rehabilitation centers, Friendship House CEO Kim Eppehimer said.
“Wilmington Housing Authority is going to offer them programs that would extend their housing options,” Eppehimer said. “The risk is if a person doesn't qualify or doesn't want that programming, then they will likely end up back on the street.”
Friendship House will continue to help Christina Park residents and other unhoused people even after their contract with the city ends in two weeks.
AG Jennings said former Christina Park residents moved into the park and observed strict rules for months.
“I do not accept the view that the homeless in Christina Park have committed a crime when they have followed the City’s orders at every step,” Jennings wrote. “Prosecuting them for remaining in the park would be unfair. It would be a moral failure. The City did not consult us in advance. After we learned about the evictions we were clear with the Mayor’s office that, while our Community Engagement team would be available to assist with service referrals, we would not prosecute people for their nonviolent presence in a park where the City put them. That policy has not changed."
City officials continue to explore alternative affordable housing options including a pallet village, though there are no official plans yet.
