York City officials begin clearing large encampment, say outreach and services were offered

York City officials said they began clearing a large homeless encampment in Bantz Park, a stretch the city described as the largest in York City history, and that the operation combined city departments and outside service providers to offer people shelter and treatment options.

An agency official said the sweep covered the area from the Richland Avenue bridge down to the Penn Street bridge and involved public works, community and economic development, fire, emergency management and hazardous-materials staff, plus county personnel. "This is the largest encampment, homeless encampment in the history of the city of York," the official said, adding the city walked the entire site multiple times and sought to give occupants ample time and access to services before clearing the area.

A shelter staff member who worked with police at Vance Park said outreach workers persuaded 17 people to enter the shelter and arranged treatment for three others. "I was able to get 17 of the people that were down there to come back into the shelter. We were able to send three of them off to treatment," the staff member said, describing case management, meals and program tracks intended to help residents overcome barriers to stable housing.

The staff member outlined the shelter's program lengths: "Track one is typically 45 days. Track two is about six months, and track three is up to a year to 18 months," they said, adding that longer stays can help people learn budgeting and other skills to avoid returning to homelessness.

Jackie, a representative of Malvern Treatment Center, said her team was doing on-site assessments and could arrange transportation for people who agreed to inpatient treatment. "We're here today to assist if anyone's looking to get into treatment today. I will be doing initial assessments and getting them connected with my team to help get placement," Jackie said, noting typical inpatient stays run 25–30 days and that the center can handle co-occurring mental-health and substance-use disorders.

A Public Works representative described the scale of the cleanup and the methods crews used. "We have about 39 employees with the city of York and... pretty much all of its public works equipment... using skid loaders and dump trucks to scoop up the material," the representative said, adding crews began work in the morning, were working through lunch, and planned to continue into the afternoon to finish dense areas.

City staff also described operational challenges: steep ridgelines, washouts and down trees required chainsaws and careful equipment access to reach the densest concentrations of trash and debris. The Public Works representative said crews had completed an estimated 80% of the cleanup by early afternoon.

Officials said the city would continue enforcement in the cleared area to discourage re-encampment while maintaining offers of services to people displaced by the sweep. The agency official also criticized the prior administration's handling of the encampment and said the city's resources needed to be used to address other pressing issues.

The transcript does not provide a date for the operation. City officials, outreach staff and the treatment provider offered their accounts and figures on site; there were no formal votes or ordinances discussed in the recorded remarks.