Trending
WHEELING - Members of Wheeling City Council are scheduled to tackle a very light agenda during this evening’s regular council meeting, but still face a deadline from the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia to pause enforcing the city's new camping ban.
Dozens of homeless advocacy groups have joined in asking the city for that pause, drafting a letter released to the public Monday.
Four routine original propositions are scheduled to be introduced during tonight’s council meeting, which is slated to begin at 5:30 p.m. in city council chambers at the City-County Building. However, city leaders were given a deadline of today to respond to demands made by the ACLU-WV, which on Friday threatened to sue the city if it failed to pause enforcement of Wheeling’s new ban on camping on public property.
On Monday, a letter was sent to city council and the city administration on behalf of nearly 30 area agencies, organizations, outreach service providers and homeless advocate groups urging the city to suspend enforcement of the camping ban until a managed camp is established.
During the first week of the year, the city posted notices at areas around town where homeless encampments have tended to take root, informing unhoused individuals of the new ordinance and advising them to remove their belongings from the public areas within two weeks time. That deadline is expected to arrive on Wednesday.
Under the new camping ban ordinance, Wheeling’s city manager was given the authority to authorize one or more managed camps that would be exempt from the camping ban. Proposed guidelines for a managed camp were shared between the city administration and heads of local outreach organizations. However, city leaders have indicated that local agencies and faith-based groups would have to step forward to actually operate a managed camp. Despite the fact that the city passed the new ordinance several weeks ago, no site for a managed camp has been established.
The ACLU-WV asserted in its letter to the city that the camping ban ordinance was unconstitutional. However, they indicated that if a managed camp were to be established as the ordinance allowed, it would help the city meet its "constitutional obligations."
Advocates named in the letter sent to the city on Monday agreed.
"As it stands, it is not possible for people experiencing homelessness to follow the camping ban," the letter stated. "The enforcement of the ban today means that people without homes will be forced to carry all their belongings with them in shopping carts, wagons, suitcases or whatever other items they can find to carry all of their earthly possessions."
Homeless individuals were being referred to The Life Hub’s facility on 16th Street downtown - the site of the former First English Lutheran Church, where a winter shelter is being operated from 8 p.m. to 8 p.m.
However, the group of outreach service providers contended that "there are clearly not adequate shelter beds available" at The Life Hub, which can house around 50 individuals overnight. They also noted that The Life Hub’s winter shelter is open only until March 15, which is "nine short weeks away from having no low-barrier shelter."
The letter listed several names and agencies, including the Most Rev. Mark E. Brennan, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston; Mark Phillips and Ashlie Kotson of Catholic Charities; Becky Shilling-Rodocker of the Soup Kitchen of Greater Wheeling; Mark Games of Northwood Health System; Lori Jones of the YWCA Wheeling; Kate Marshall of the House of Hagar; Jill Eddy of Youth Services Systems Inc. and several other outreach leaders.
"Without the establishment of a managed camp, people will be forced to choose which law to break: the camping ban or trespassing ordinances," the letter stated. "There are far reaching consequences to pending citations or criminal charges when it comes to finding housing. This ordinance only places more barriers to ending homelessness. Therefore, we ask that you suspend the enforcement of the camping ban until the establishment of a managed camp."