TOP STORIES OF 2024: Homelessness Continues To Be at Forefront of Policy Discussions in Wheeling

WHEELING -- This year, Wheeling's unhoused population saw several significant changes to local policy and living conditions.

Starting Jan. 1, 2024, the city began enforcing a public camping ban to discourage dispersed camping throughout the city. The policy change allowed for the creation of a site exempt from the ban, where unhoused people would be concentrated in one set location, a creekside site along the Maintenance Trail.

Come September, city officials decided to relocate this camp for the winter, moving it to a spot around 100 yards away from the original location.

The city cited that the intention of the move was to make the camp more accessible during winter months, as it is closer to an entrance that can be reached by vehicles.

This relocation is slated to last until April 15, 2025, when those who are still living at the camp will be asked to move back to their original location.

Despite the Nov. 1 move-out deadline, many unhoused individuals remained at the camp that morning and city workers began removing their belongings and tents. Those who work closely with the community said the move was stressful for residents of the encampment and the new location poses some challenges. Some individuals say they are more exposed to the elements, like wind and dust, in the new location.

Others have said they feel safer now, with newly added security cameras and more light flooding in.

Workers and volunteers with several local groups have been keeping up their regular work of helping provide resources to the unhoused population. One such group, street medicine Project HOPE, makes weekly rounds at the encampment and aids those struggling with addiction through their needle exchange program.

The group has been pushing to separate from the Department of Health and instead join Catholic Charities, an organization which the group feels can better meet their needs for a larger staff and expanded primary health care opportunities.

At a Wheeling-Ohio County Board of Health meeting in November, Dr. William Mercer, who founded Project HOPE, pushed for the split.

At the meeting, the board of health approved a motion to start looking into the legal, ethical and financial complexities of the proposed change in oversight. However, board representatives expressed that they did not see the immediate need for Project HOPE to split off.

This topic will continue to be discussed at Board of Health meetings in the coming year.

Also in November, the city council approved a controversial ordinance banning panhandling in Wheeling with the intention of improving pedestrian and driver safety.

The ordinance prohibits the exchange of items, typically money, between drivers and pedestrians on public roads city-wide, which officials say poses a safety concern due to the potential for accidents.

Many members of the public spoke out against the ban, saying the ordinance would be further criminalizing unhoused individuals and those in need. Despite the pushback, only one council member, Connie Cain, voted in dissent.

After two months of leeway and education on the ordinance, the new rule officially goes into effect on Wednesday.

An individual's first violation of the ordinance will result in a warning, while subsequent violations may spell citations, fines and community service for both drivers and solicitors.

The city has been meeting with regulars at two of Wheeling's typical panhandling locations, just off of Interstate 70 ramps downtown Wheeling and near the Perkins on National Road, to give them a warning about upcoming enforcement of the ordinance.