Citing health and safety reasons, the City of Harrisburg decided to displace anywhere between 30 to 80 individuals using the Mulberry Street Bridge as cover. Harrisburg City officials initially made this decision without broad input from the many Harrisburg organizations that faithfully serve the homeless. On Thursday, January 12, the city announced a one-week eviction warning for those residing at the encampment. In a second news conference on Friday, January 13, Mayor Wanda Williams acknowledged the announcement was a "surprise" to many, and the city received negative criticism on their decision about the encampment. On that Friday morning, before the press conference, city officials took a broader approach to involve the organizations that work most closely with unhoused communities in Harrisburg. Still, they did not adjust the timeline of one week. 

The timeline provided is entirely arbitrary and serves to restrain the many organizations working to assist each individual get to their next home whether it's the new location or elsewhere. While shelters scramble to make room, many in Harrisburg are at capacity. It is the middle of winter. Affordable housing is scarce. Many organizations across America, including Harrisburg, are working diligently to combat housing insecurity. Given the circumstances of the moment, it seems rather tone-deaf for Harrisburg City officials to conclude eviction is the ONLY solution to this health and safety crisis. 

Signing this petition encourages the City of Harrisburg to reconsider its decision. 

What is the desired outcome? 

Based on our understanding of the situation, city officials should have planned collaboration with the community and area organizers to remedy the legitimate health and safety issues at Mulberry Street Bridge, providing a runway of time to ensure successful aid. What if we organized regular clean-up days? What if we created more opportunities for trash storage and waste removal? What if we supplied individuals with coolers or other supplies to properly store their food that would remedy the concern of animals? What if we worked with professional pest control services to address the infestation of rats? These are all efforts that many individuals and organizations would mobilize to address. 

We join the City of Harrisburg in its acknowledgment of these unacceptable living conditions. However, city officials ignored several humane solutions and concluded eviction, with short notice, was the only path forward. We invite the City of Harrisburg to reimagine a solution that brings dignity to those who call this location their home—giving the residents and community leaders a chance to serve our homeless neighbors.

We understand another location is in the works. Currently, many non-profits and services are working to mobilize, strategize and gather resources to ensure that individuals have transportation to this new location if necessary. Organizers have less than a week to plan these efforts; to add to the difficulty of organizing, it is a holiday weekend. Many organizations have already established work projects and actions throughout the city planned for Monday. Harrisburg City officials seem to have missed the irony of Dr. King's day being the same week they plan to displace 30-80 homeless individuals. Dr. King wrote, "The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty." [Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community] 

At the very least, Harrisburg City officials can provide an extended timeline so the many great organizations in Harrisburg can create a plan to aid the displaced sufficiently. Suppose they force the Mulberry Street Bridge residents to make this transition by or before Thursday, January 19. In that case, many compassionate people and organizers will leap into action to ease the trauma of displaced individuals, assuming such a thing is possible. Yet, additional planning time would greatly aid organizations working to align resources and collaborate operations for a smooth transition.

Alongside this petition effort, we have a clean-up effort on Monday, January 16, starting at 10 AM under the Mulberry Street Bridge. Find out more about that on Facebook.