Pittsburgh officials plan to break up homeless encampment Downtown

Pittsburgh officials plan to tear down a homeless encampment Downtown next week, a city spokesperson confirmed Friday.

City outreach workers have given “credible offers of housing” to everyone living at the encampment along First Avenue, said Maria Montaño, a spokesperson for Mayor Ed Gainey.

Officials are “hopeful” everyone living in the encampment will transition into temporary shelters or emergency housing before the city decommissions the site Tuesday, she said.

Montaño said the decision to tear down the camp comes as its residents have witnessed “a rise of activity that places the encampment residents at risk.” She said there was an uptick in reports of sexual assaults against people staying there.

About eight to 10 people currently live in that encampment, according to Montaño.

“We’re working with them to move them for their safety,” she said.

Social workers with the city’s Office of Community Health and Safety — along with the county and other outreach groups — have been working to provide residents of the First Avenue encampment with various services for several months, Montaño said. Outreach workers have met daily with the camp’s residents.

She touted the rapport Pittsburgh’s outreach workers have created with homeless individuals throughout the city to ensure they have access to resources and can communicate with city officials when problems arise.

The city decides on a “case-by-case basis” when an encampment should be decommissioned, Montaño said. The decision to tear down the First Avenue encampment was based on the safety concerns and victimization of residents, she said.

Montaño said the city will offer to store personal belongings that people may have in the camp when it is decommissioned next week. Social workers will be on site when the camp is cleared, she said.

It’s “too soon to say” whether the city will break up any other camps this fall, she said.

Montaño said the clearing of the First Avenue site will not impact a nearby homeless encampment on Grant Street. Those encampments, she said, are two distinct, separate communities.

City social workers also are connecting with people in the Grant Street encampment to offer services and support, she said.

Montaño said city officials believe the uptick in violence towards homeless people has been fueled, in part, by predatory media coverage of homeless individuals in the city.

She asked that people to treat the city’s homeless population with respect.

Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt earlier this week estimated there about 200 homeless people without shelter citywide.

City officials are working with the county Department of Human Services and other partners “to find credible offers of housing for individuals to keep safe and warm this winter,” Montaño said.