What started off in 2020 as a small cluster of two or three tents has seen growth as the nation has reported more people experiencing homelessness. Tent City grew to nearly 30 residents at its peak, with others coming to sleep near the encampment in their cars and vans, Springfield Soup Kitchen operator Fred Stegner said.
Residents on Tuesday were told the encampment would be closing, Stegner said.
City workers and representatives of Sheltered Inc., formerly Interfaith Hospitality Network, and the Nehemiah Foundation transported people living at the encampment to hotels and motels in the city as temporary housing.
The following day, Tent City was bulldozed and cleared out by the city and other organizations. An empty lot, used for Soup Kitchen parking prior to Tent City’s start, rests there now.
A “dozen or more” reasons led to the closing of the encampment, Stegner said. First, a large amount of trash and items that served no purpose had accumulated at the site as people would donate unusable items to the encampment: baby clothes, old mattresses and more. Fights would sometimes break out in the encampment, too, and thefts were reported.
Stegner said the city’s timing was “perfect,” and he’s happy to see people who lived in the tents were connected to rooms with warm beds and hot showers.
Temperatures are expected to drop to as low as 24 degrees this weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
The News-Sun was unable to reach representatives of the city on Friday.
Elaina Bradley, the executive director of Sheltered, Inc., said the non-profit moved 24 people and one child to non-congregate emergency shelter. People can stay in that programming up to 90 days.
“As we transition into the winter months, Nehemiah Foundation will be coordinating Emergency Cold Weather Shelters and will continue to work with Sheltered Inc. on coordinated entry into emergency shelters,” Bradley said. “These shelters will open when the weather conditions are life threatening.”
Clark County OIC executive director Michael Calabrese said his agency has been working for a few weeks now in partnership with the Clark County Combined Health District, Nehemiah Foundation, Sheltered Inc. and the city to find shelter for the Tent City residents.
Clark County OIC placed several residents into rental assistance programs, where they may be eligible to stay in long-term housing for up to six months.
Many stories exist from those dwelling in the West Main Street encampment: some people took refuge in the tents when they were escaping domestic violence and had few options for where to go. Other residents were families who were staying in the tents while they saved money to put down deposits for rental housing in the community, Stegner said.
Dozens of volunteers had been working to build beds and shelves for people living in Tent City in preparation for bitter cold weather, according to organizer and Springfield resident Kurt Siebenick.
For weeks, Siebenick and others had built more than 20 beds for people in tent city to sleep on, as well as shelves to keep their items in and platforms to keep them off the cold ground.
Tuesday’s demolition did not see the destruction of the new furniture: some materials gathered for the project were returned and refunded, and other assembled items were donated to Habitat for Humanity, Siebenick said.
According to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, more than 10,000 people are experiencing homelessness in Ohio any given day. The population of unsheltered people consists of young adults, veterans, family households and others.
Although short-term shelters were found for Tent City residents, many people in Springfield may still be out in the cold this winter, Stegner said.
“It’s a dilemma,” Stegner said. “People just want a warm place to stay. Hot meals, warm showers. And we’re trying to help people in every way we can.”
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