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Imagine returning to the spot you've called home for more than a year and learning that you have days to gathering your belongings and leave. What you don't take will be thrown away. It's December, so there's also the cold and the early onset of darkness to contend with.
That's the fate a number of homeless people in Wheeling currently are facing. They were not prohibited from setting up an encampment under an overpass in East Wheeling on property owned by the state of West Virginia. Dumpsters were provided for trash. The area is fenced in, and sits across from Catholic Charities of West Virginia.
The West Virginia Department of Transportation, in having the Wheeling Police Department inform those residing there that they would have to leave by Dec. 15, cited a complaint from a neighbor. The DOT has "No Trespassing" signs posted, but until now has not enforced the measure.
It's only been about a year since the last time the state asked Wheeling to disband homeless encampments. At that time state officials said the no trespassing issue would be fully enforced.
Helping the homeless is a complex matter. However, allowing these folks to possibly experience some semblance of community at the East Wheeling site, to have a place to call home with services nearby, then to come in and essentially evict them … well, that just feels wrong. If encampments are not to be permitted on state property, then they should be dealt with immediately.
We do give credit to the city's new homeless liaison, Melissa Adams, for working with the state and other local agencies to delay the enforcement until after local warming centers opened for the winter. That's a thoughtful and reasonable process that will help to alleviate, at least to some extent, the challenge of being kicked out of your home.