City Public Works dismantles North Side homeless encampment, surrounds area with fence
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Pittsburgh's plan to address the homelessness crisis moved into high gear on Wednesday morning as crews with the Public Works Department moved in to take down the largest encampment in the city.
The move is part of an overall plan to dismantle the encampments and get people living in them into shelters.
The encampment on Stockton Avenue on the North Side had grown over the summer from a few tents to more than three dozen.
Over the past three weeks, outreach workers have been trying to get people to relocate to the newly opened Second Avenue Commons shelter downtown.
The city says 35 people have moved in; and as off Tuesday, about a dozen or so people remained. The last of whom moved out Wednesday morning.
Workers spent the day clearing out the tents and debris and putting a fence around the space to make sure no one moves back in.
City officials said they moved in out of concern for the people experiencing homelessness, as well as neighborhood complaints.
KDKA's Andy Sheehan: "People have complained that this has not only been an eyesore but an area of drug activity."
"So, there's been some concerns around the public health and safety of the people, so we've been working on plans to actively move them into shelter," Maria Montano, Mayor Ed Gainey's press secretary. "They're have been some other concerns among the community about the open-air drug market here. That did weigh into some of the factors, but as you can see today, this is not a law enforcement action."
Second Avenue Commons and the other shelters are now reported full, which is raising concerns about the people experiencing homelessness who are still out there.
