Lansdale Police Working to Address Homelessness in Local Area

Borough officials are continuing talks about an ongoing problem, while making their position clear.

“We do not criminalize homelessness in this borough. The fact is that we’re in a crisis, in the county and beyond,” said councilwoman Meg Currie Teoh.

In July, borough Mayor Garry Herbert said he and borough staff had begun talks with Montgomery County officials about “the growing volume of unhoused in Lansdale,” in the latest round of a conversation that’s been ongoing across the county for the past two years.

Housing damaged in summer flooding in 2021, followed by the closure of a county homeless shelter in June 2022, led county officials to organize a task force of several dozen municipal officials, with Lansdale represented, to discuss the problem, while adjacent Upper Gwynedd has debated a proposed project on Pennbrook Parkway that advocates say could include low-income housing for those who work in the area.

During council’s public safety committee meeting on Sept. 6, the debate continued, with Teoh and fellow councilwoman Mary Fuller asking police Chief Mike Trail for an update on recent reports about persons recently seen sleeping, setting up chairs and tables, and fighting in the borough’s Memorial Park.

“First of all, we’re aware of it, and we do regularly patrol it. We do not allow encampments to exist,” Trail said.

“We generally try to promote individuals to seek shelter indoors, to seek alternative shelter, to seek whatever means are available. Right now, Montgomery County does not have a homeless shelter. That creates a very difficult problem,” he said.

Recent court rulings have “been pretty consistently clear” that persons found sleeping outside cannot be cited or charged, the chief told the committee, and officers are made aware of how to handle such cases.

“If you are just lying about and sleeping, that cannot be criminalized. People who are creating unsanitary conditions are something that we address. But it’s a very complex problem,” he said.

Fuller added that she had been contacted by residents who saw at least one person using a hammock set up in a park and asked the chief for advice.

“I’m not saying, ‘Move it where we can’t see it.’ I do understand it is a systemic problem. It’s tricky,” she said.

Police do try to refer those in need to local services when possible, the chief added, and have been in contact with borough parks and recreation staff about how to handle anyone who is damaging trees, landscaping or property such as park furniture.

“These are the things that make our parks what they are. They can be asked to leave for (damaging) — but when we get down to the core issue of, someone sleeping on a park bench, that’s tricky. Our main goal is to help those people, and that’s the approach we’re taking,” Trail said.

Anyone who lives near a park and sees such a situation in progress should contact police as soon as possible, so those officers can respond and connect the person with the services they need, the chief added.

“A lot of times, just connecting people with resources is the most important thing we can do,” Teoh said.

Local nonprofit food pantry Manna on Main Street just announced an expansion into a new facility on Cannon Avenue to serve a growing volume of community members in need, and Teoh said she sees that need — and the complex causes of the need — through her job at Manna.

“Between housing — at any price point — and available shelter space, there’s not a lot of options for folks, and this is what the result is,” she said.

“That said, folks being in the park is not a crime. Folks sleeping in the park, also not a crime. Folks causing disruption, actually breaking the law, damaging anything, that is something we definitely need to report. It’s a fine line. It’s a complicated situation,” she said. “We are doing what we can to help folks, as best we can.”

Lansdale’s borough council next meets at 7 p.m. on Sept. 20 and the public safety committee next meets at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 4, both at the borough municipal building, 1 Vine Street. For more information visit www.Lansdale.org.

This article appears courtesy of a content share agreement between North Penn Now and The Reporter. To read more stories like this, visit www.thereporteronline.com.

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