Lansdale preparing push to remove homeless from parks

Borough officials are preparing another push to find places to stay for the unhoused.

Town officials gave an update Wednesday night on their latest efforts and major accomplishments since a prior attempt last summer.

“Back a year ago, we were dealing with a lot of unhoused issues in the community, particularly related to the gazebo. We worked successfully with our co-responder and our officers, and did move people out of the gazebo, and that has been abated,” said police Chief Mike Trail.

“At that time, we drafted an anti-camping ordinance for consideration. We tabled that ordinance, or didn’t discuss it, because we were waiting for the Grant’s Pass decision, which was a Supreme Court case related to the rights of the unhoused,” he said. The Grant’s Pass U.S. Supreme Court decision deals with whether a municipality can ban people from sleeping or camping in public areas, such as sidewalks and parks.

Throughout the first half of 2024, council and its committees fielded comments and concerns from residents worried about men sleeping in the gazebo at Memorial Park, after roughly two years of talks on homelessness spurred by the closing of the only county homeless shelter in Norristown in 2022. Concerns were also raised about encampments in Stony Creek Park.

Since early 2024, Lansdale has partnered with a mental health co-responder to help respond to those experiencing mental health challenges or other problems not typically addressed by police when they respond to calls. And, local residents have mobilized on social media to raise money for housing those in need of shelter.

Since last summer, borough officials have worked with Montgomery County to finalize plans for a county short-term housing facility on Main Street near North Wales Road slated to open this fall. The borough has also allowed use of a borough parks and recreation building as an overnight shelter for women during winter Code Blue nights, in addition to a shelter for men that operated for over 100 nights.

With winter now behind, and complaints about encampments in borough parks, the police chief told council’s public safety committee that he listed a discussion on “prohibitions relating to camping” to spur another round of talks.

“It is now time for us to start looking at what we’ll do as a result of the unhoused who are residing in our parks,” said Trail.

“We are going to work with our mental health co-responder and officers, much like we did with the gazebo, to move people out of the parks who are sleeping there in violation of park hours — that is, sunset to sunup, you will not be allowed to sleep in our parks,” he said.

Relocating those living in the parks will be done “in a very judicious, very respectful manner,” with notices given beforehand, and officers will walk parks nightly for a 30 day grace period before citations and relocations begin, the chief said. Committee chair Meg Currie Teoh added that doing so is allowed under current codes, thus the tabling of the camping code discussion.

“Our operations going forward are just utilizing the tools we already have,” she said.

“The mayor and I felt this was the least intrusive way, to begin this way. And we’re going to see how this works, and we’ll revisit it if it does not,” the chief added.

Councilman Andrew Carroll said he thought “doing this in a kind and thoughtful manner” was key to the town’s approach, and anyone who sees somehow who doesn’t belong on public or private property should call police ASAP.

Teoh added a clear message: “We’ve long said, in this community and this borough, that we have zero interest in criminalizing homelessness. We are dealing with humans here,” she said.

“We are trying to make the borough a safe place and comfortable for all, while keeping in mind that we are dealing with humans who are at a pretty terrible place in life right now,” Teoh said.

To put the new approach in writing, Mayor Garry Herbert said he and the chief drafted a memo that will be sent to the department this week, spelling out the new policy and taking precedence over a similar memo issued last summer.

“Going forward, to properly and humanly address issues related to the unhoused, Lansdale Police Officers will ask unhoused persons squatting in our parks to remove themselves from park property if they are there outside the posted hours,” says the memo.

If temperatures are at unsafe levels or inclement weather arrives, officers are directed to ask those unhoused “to seek shelter away from the unsafe conditions of the parks and aid them in relocating to safer locations,” and to work with the co-responder “to aid in the removal of any unhoused individuals who are unwilling to relocate to ensure the safety of all involved” and use citations and arrests only as a last resort.

“This action is being taken to ensure the longevity of our park assets. Tenting, camping, and otherwise erecting non-permanent structures for extended periods damages the natural space we are trying to protect,” reads the memo.

“Our goal is NOT to criminalize poverty in Lansdale. However, we also will not tolerate the destruction and abuse of our parks and our property,” the memo says.

One resident asked if the department would also move those who sleep near the Kugel ball at the town’s Railroad Plaza at Main and Madison Streets, and/or those who sleep in the vestibule of the Lansdale School of Cosmetology just a few doors down. Herbert replied that the Kugel ball area is considered a borough park and would follow the same procedures and rules, while the cosmetology school is private property and thus anyone sleeping in the vestibule would be considered trespassing.

“People have been sleeping in the vestibule of the cosmetology school, and they can be cited right now, we don’t need any additional ordinance for that. And we do move them along, and cite them,” Trail said.

Resident Dominic Frascella asked if the policy would also apply to trails, and whether those sleeping on trails would be affected; Herbert said he’d look into whether the town’s trail network are considered town or county property, and Trail said officers will get clear direction.

“Our intention is not to harass people who are using our park in a good manner, perhaps after dark. Our goal here is to abate individuals who are sleeping in our parks, defecating in our parks, scattering rubbish in our parks, making it unsightly, and people fear going to the park,” he said.

“It’s not a blanket, ‘everyone in the park will be cited the minute the sun goes down.’ We’re going to be tactful and respectful, but we need to work on this problem,” Trail said.

Another resident asked if the town has a place to go for those displaced, and Teoh said that’s a complicated answer.

“Yes and no, and that’s why we have moved very slowly on this, and why we didn’t move more quickly last year. The answer in the immediate term was no,” she said.

The county facility is slated to open in the fall and will have 20 beds, which the councilwoman said is a start, but likely not enough.

“The intention is to house as many of our folks there as we can. That will be a resource. It’s not currently available though, and that’s why we’ve hesitated with a lot of steps, because there isn’t somewhere for people to go right now,” she said.

‘It’s particularly hard to swallow criminalizing something, when there is no real option for folks. It’s a thing we’ve been struggling with, and I personally think we need to struggle with. This is a first step,” Teoh said.

Carroll added that county officials have said that when the shelter opens in Lansdale, they will try to “prioritize people who are in this geographic area,” and other county shelters in the region could do so for other towns, which Herbert and Teoh echoed.

“We really appreciate the county understands this is an important priority,” Teoh said. “It’s not a simple issue, and there is no simple answer. I wish there were.”

Lansdale’s borough council next meets at 7 p.m. on June 18 and the public safety committee next meets at 6:30 p.m. on August 6, 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 https://www.thereporteronline.com