Residents and advocates urge delay to Jordan Meadows encampment eviction; council schedules committee meeting on unhoused issues

Dozens of residents, service providers and advocates urged Allentown City Council on Aug. 6 to postpone the planned clearance of the Jordan Meadows encampment and to develop alternatives for people living there.

Speakers said the encampment along Fourth and Green — described by multiple commenters as home to more than 100 people — was being cleared with too little notice and no viable relocation options. Council leadership announced a committee of the whole meeting for Aug. 13 at 6:30 p.m. to review Bill 72 and discuss issues related to people experiencing homelessness.

Why this matters: Commenters said the proposed removal — publicized as happening on Aug. 25 — would displace vulnerable residents with no guaranteed shelter or supports and risk public health and safety. Several advocates offered concrete proposals, including temporary safe camping sites modeled on recent efforts in other Pennsylvania cities and a volunteer-built microcommunity proposal called the Hope Homestead Sanctuary.

Street-medicine clinicians, outreach workers and people who live in the encampment told council members their primary concerns were lack of notice, no transitional housing options and the loss of trust between outreach teams and residents.

"Forcibly moving somebody from their encampment ultimately will worsen their health, dehumanize them, and ruin relationships with members of the city who are your neighbors," said Seth Campbell, a physician assistant and program director for Valley Health Partners Street Medicine, who said he serves people living at Jordan Meadows. "This isn't a sweep. It sounds like it's going to be an eviction."

Riley Cruiser, who leads the Conference of Churches' street outreach team and said he is in the encampments daily, urged the council to delay action until Nov. 1 so warming station capacity would be available for the winter. "It gives people proper time to find out where they're gonna go," Cruiser said, adding an estimate that the encampment includes roughly 140 people.

Vanessa Cornier, identified in a prepared statement read by a volunteer, introduced a private plan called the Hope Homestead Sanctuary: a proposed multi-faith, off-grid microcommunity with small huts built by residents, on-site skill-building and peer-led governance. Cornier, described in the statement as founder and executive director of Where the Hat Is corporation, said the model would rely on limited public funding and private partnership and asked the city for space and coordination, not a large public appropriation.

Multiple residents and advocates said other models from Harrisburg and York, including designated safe camping areas, offered precedents the city could follow. "We need to figure this out, and we don't, we can't wait another week," Anita Santiago said, urging an emergency response and short-term funding reallocations to keep people from being displaced with no alternatives.

Several speakers who identified as living in or having recently lived in the encampment described receiving little notice and losing vital belongings. "They had a porta potty put up two weeks ago and I was finally beginning to relax," said Julie Edgar, who said she currently camps in the encampment. "I just found out yesterday morning that we had like 20 days."

City response and next steps: Council President Hanlon (presiding) announced a committee of the whole meeting set for Aug. 13 at 6:30 p.m. specifically to review Bill 72 and discuss the unhoused. Council members also discussed whether the committee could take timely action to extend or modify the posted clearance date; the council solicitor said the administration would research whether a committee of the whole could adopt immediate binding measures or whether a formal council vote at a regular meeting would be required.

Members of the Allentown Homeless Commission and outreach organizations pressed the council for a short-term extension to the posted August 25 clearance and for the city to coordinate with community partners for alternatives including safe camping sites, expanded warming-station hours and short-term shelter funding. "We have solutions," said Christina de Piero, co-chair of the Allentown Homeless Commission. "We were given 48 hours notice prior to the posting by the police that is going to happen on Thursday."

Several speakers named local property owner Nat Hyman as driving displacement by pursuing legal action to clear encampment locations; commenters urged the city not to prioritize property-owner litigation over residents' immediate safety. Advocates asked the mayor's office and health department to intervene and to work with council to find solutions that preserve basic shelter and services.

The meeting record shows council members agreed to place additional homelessness-related discussion on the committee-of-the-whole agenda next week; no formal ordinance, funding appropriation or policy change was adopted at the Aug. 6 meeting.

A number of community members pledged to continue outreach and to propose specific pilot sites and funding sources at the Aug. 13 committee meeting. The council will take any formal votes at a subsequent regular or specially noticed meeting, depending on legal advice and the committee's recommendations.