WHEELING, W.Va. — Bulldozers are beginning to clear homeless encampments in Wheeling following the passage of a new public camping ban in the city and some advocates say they’re frustrated by it.
Wheeling City Council passed the ordinance in Nov. 2023 and allowed it to take effect this week following a two-week stay. It was supposed to take effect Jan. 1.
Dr. William Mercer with Project HOPE in Wheeling was on scene when the bulldozers rolled in Thursday morning. He said a similar situation happened Jan. 1 without enough notice provided to residents staying in the camps.
“The bulldozer had come up to one of the tents within 10 feet, but a person who had been staying there heard them and he came out. Then they said they would give them four hours to move. We stood our ground and the city then backed off,” he said.
Mercer said the situation was upsetting to him, especially after a lawsuit was filed this week by the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia (ACLU-WV) regarding the removing of camps.
“We were kind of surprised because of the lawsuit that went out. We didn’t think they would mobilize this quickly, but they did,” he said.
Again, Mercer said hardly any notice was given to the residents before Thursday.
“When I talked to people at the camp yesterday, they said they had no notice of this happening and that they were told they had two hours to get things ready,” Mercer said on Friday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
ACLU-WV Legal Director Aubrey Sparks said in a news release, “Wheeling was given time to solve this issue and chose not to.” The statement goes on to say, “if they continue to kick the can down the road, then they will be forced to deal with this issue by a court.”
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday night in the Northern District of West Virginia.
Around 30 religious leaders or medical professionals that assist homeless individuals in the city recently wrote a letter to council members before this week’s meeting, asking for them to put a stay on the ordinance until a long-term solution could be reached.
The city has said the ordinance includes a way for non-profits or people who are homeless advocates to file an exemption to prevent from having certain homeless encampments be removed.
Mercer said “sweeping”, which is the act of forcibly removing a homeless encampment, is bad and only makes the problem worse.
“That is the one thing that we’re trying to get through to the council. The ordinance is bad. Get rid of it,” he said.
Longterm affordable housing needs to be more available, Mercer said.
“It all comes down to how do we manage the visible homeless,” he said, adding the drug crisis has also fueled the homeless problem.