Why Should Delaware Care?
In recent years, the size of the unhoused community in Wilmington has grown in size and in its need. In response, Mayor John Carney has introduced a short-term plan to convert an East Side park and nearby building into designated spaces for the city’s unhoused residents. But the plan is only now reaching the people who say they will feel its impact most.
Last week, Wilmington Mayor John Carney told Eastside residents that a park in their neighborhood would soon serve as the location for the city’s only sanctioned homeless encampment.
The announcement drew sharp criticism and several questions.
“Why were we not addressed on this matter?” asked one resident, whose sentiment appeared to resonate with most of the roughly 50 people gathering at the worship room of an Eastside church last Wednesday evening.
The community discussion came a week after Carney announced his plans to limit homeless encampments in the city to an Eastside park where tents already exist. A new 24-hour restroom facility with clean water will also be installed in the park for public use.
The city will ban camping in other public areas — likely pushing even more homeless encampments to Christina Park.
The plan followed recent recommendations submitted to the mayor by the city’s Homelessness Task Force, a public body he established earlier this year to develop strategies to serve the unhoused population and coordinate resources and services across the city.
During Wednesday’s meeting, Carney described the decision as an “interim plan” aimed at balancing the needs of the unhoused community with what he called public order.
And he said he met with the Eastside residents not only to inform their community about the plans, but to hear their thoughts, and encourage community members and groups to work with the city.
“We have to manage the population in a compassionate way,” he told the crowd at the meeting, adding that the city’s goal is to “respect the rights of others while meeting the needs of those who are unhoused.”
But for many in the room, it was their first time hearing about the new initiatives. And many felt blindsided.
“You want to save face by telling us, but you’ve already started doing what you wanted, that’s unfair,” one Eastside resident, who only provided her first name as Delma, told Spotlight Delaware.
Another resident, Lanita Brooks, expressed concerns about housing more broadly in Delaware’s largest city. She said she and her kids will soon have to move out of their apartment, which is being converted into two smaller units. She may not have another place to go, she said.
“Rent is going up, and more kids, more parents, [are] going to be outside in that field,” she said, referring to the park.
City Councilwoman Michelle Harlee, whose district encompasses part of east Wilmington and Southbridge, said she is against the city using Christina Park, noting uncertainty around the number of people who will be located there.
“The unintended consequences is something that we all have to deal with right now, meaning, like in three months or six months, what is this going to look like?” she said.
Beyond the planned encampment, Carney has also announced that a new day center would open at 600 E. 4th St. – about a block from Christina Park – to provide social services for the city’s unhoused population.
As part of the day center, the city has partnered with the Wilmington Housing Authority and the Ministry of Caring, a social services nonprofit, to open a dining hall for the homeless.
The dining hall will offer daytime services for unhoused people, in contrast with many emergency shelters in the city that only allow individuals to come in the evening for a meal and stay until early morning.
Carney has said the city secured $600,000 from Delaware’s bond bill to fund the dining hall. But, he said, additional dollars will be needed to complete the total project.
‘Maybe we can make it work’
During the meeting, Carney said the city chose Christina Park because it already is being utilized as an encampment. And he mentioned that he had received feedback from a few men who attend the park regularly.
“So we thought, ‘Well, if there’s a way that [residents and homeless residents] can use this space cooperatively, maybe we can make it work,’” he said.
Carney further noted that the need for resources for the homeless population has increased recently. He claimed that there has been an influx of unhoused individuals coming from areas, such as Philadelphia, South Jersey, and Southern Delaware.
He also said that many homeless individuals are dealing with mental health and substance abuse issues, stating that many “aren’t ready” for affordable housing.
Following his speech at the Wednesday meeting, residents voiced worries about the loss of public space and about a sense of fairness around placing the only sanctioned encampment in their neighborhood.
Some suggested the mayor sanction off parts of other city parks, such as Rodney Square, for unhoused residents to go. Others asked why the city couldn’t utilize vacant buildings to establish another shelter, noting the several empty buildings exist in the area.
And still others questioned whether a single encampment could handle the city’s growing homeless population and what would happen when winter temperatures arrive.
Residents also contrasted Carney’s efforts with the city’s other development projects, such as the $10 million the city committed last year to the private renovation of an office building complex, called Bracebridge.
Carney, who at moments throughout the meeting appeared visibly frustrated, acknowledged that the city has limited shelter capacity and relies heavily on state-run voucher programs for temporary hotel stays.
But, he noted, shelters fall under social services, which he emphasized are a state operation.
“The only main thing we do is law enforcement-based. That’s all we mostly have the resources to do,” Carney said.
A city run shelter?
Currently, there are no city-run shelters in Wilmington. Existing shelters are all run by nonprofit organizations, some of which receive money from the city.
Wilmington receives a grant each year from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to help fund emergency shelters. For this fiscal year, the city received almost $200,000.
Rachel Stucker, executive director of the Delaware Housing Alliance, a nonprofit that works on affordable housing, said that unless the city code has restricted city-run shelters in some way, Wilmington could set up its own shelter if it wanted to.
City-run shelters are common in other larger cities like Portland and Austin, Texas.
When housing advocate Shyanne Miller asked if Carney would commit to putting funds for shelters in the city budget next year, Carney said, “No.”
Although Carney listened to all of the concerns from the community during the meeting, the current plan to use Christina Park seems to be set in stone.
“We will continue to talk with the residents of the Eastside and Southbridge. After these conversations, we will present our plan for the use of the park,” Caroline Klinger, Carney’s spokeswoman, wrote in an email to Spotlight Delaware after the meeting.
Carney plans to make another address in the Southbridge community during their monthly civic association meeting, which will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 18, at the Neighborhood House.
