WHEELING, W.Va. — The Catholic Charities of West Virginia is busy taking care of homeless individuals this week at an encampment in downtown Wheeling that was marked exempt by city leaders.
The temporary site is located under state Route 250 on 18th Street directly across from the Catholic Charities Neighborhood Center.
Wheeling City Council agreed to hold off on removing any more homeless encampments under a new agreement until Jan. 29 and granted an exemption to the temporary location last week.
Mark Phillips, president and CEO of Catholic Charities, told MetroNews it’s not a permanent solution to the homeless problem, but it’s a positive stop moving forward.
“It’s definitely a step in the right direction. The site does present some difficulties. It will not be large enough for all individuals experiencing homelessness especially when the Winter Freeze Shelter operated by the Life Hub closes on March 15,” he said Monday.
Phillips said they are deeply concerned about an ordinance Wheeling City Council passed in Nov. 2023 that aims to ban public camping in the city. A bulldozer started removing encampments last Thursday before the city agreed to hold off for now.
“We had an individual that we had to get from his workplace to come back and gather the few things that he could, pulling work shirts out of the rubble before bulldozers came,” Phillips said. “I do not think it represents who we are in the City of Wheeling or in West Virginia that we’re looking at people in poverty in this way.”
Phillips said they have been serving West Virginians living in poverty for years and that the problem is also tied to drug abuse and mental health. He said they’re working to provide wrap-around services at the 18th Street location.
“Those people have a hard time living in close proximity to a lot of other people. Putting everybody there takes some work and takes some counseling. We have case managers trying to do that,” he said.
The ordinance was scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1. City Council put a two-week stay on the measure earlier this month.
“There’s nothing signed yet that says how long this will exist. We think that the city needs to have exempted locations to satisfy their constitution obligation to ensure that people experiencing homelessness have some place to go,” Phillips said.
The West Virginia American Civil Liberties Union is seeking a restraining order to stop the enforcement of the city’s camping ban ordinance; however, there are negotiations underway for the organization to drop its lawsuit.
Phillips said city needs to drop the ordinance altogether.
“We’ll have to keep working with them to identify other locations that will work moving forward and better long-term solutions, but right now we’re grateful that we have a spot where we can put people where they can legally keep their belongings and have somewhere to sleep,” he said.