Downtown Pittsburgh homeless encampment cleared out

PITTSBURGH — People living in a Downtown Pittsburgh homeless encampment were given until 5 p.m. Monday to vacate.

The camp, on First Avenue near the onramp to the Parkway, is being removed by the city. Officials say it’s for safety reasons.

Channel 11 spoke to Mayor Ed Gainey’s communications director, Maria Montaño, who said there has been an “increase of victimization” of people in the camp.

Signs were posted earlier this week to inform residents of the closure.

“They are just going to get shuffled from place to place,” said Man-E, a volunteer with 1Hood Media.

Volunteers set up a table today outside of the First Avenue homeless encampment, and as one man handed out food and supplies, he told us he saw too many familiar faces.

“Some of the folks that I have met here, I’ve also met at the Stockton encampment [on the North Side], the folks at Stockton, I saw at Fort Duquesne [a homeless encampment Downtown,” said Man-E.

We reached out to the mayor’s office who said they have already secured housing for 7-9 people who live at this location and are working with others:

“Staff from the Office of Community Health and Safety, Social Workers, ROOTS team members, and community partners have been meeting regularly with the residents of the 1st Ave encampment over the past 3 to 4 months, and nearly every day over the past couple of weeks. The city has decided to decommission this encampment for a variety of factors, most notably the ability to make offers of housing for the estimated 7-9 individuals who live there, as well as over safety concerns for the residents of the encampment,” said a spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office.

Downtown residents we spoke with shared that it’s a start, but if more housing isn’t identified it is just a band-aid, not a resolution.

“If we are going to push everyone out, let’s just make sure they have somewhere to go first,” said Christian Sullivan, a Duquesne University student.

For the past week, Light of Life Rescue has coordinated rides from the encampment here to the shelter and said they will continue to work with people to secure housing.

When Channel 11 visited the camp last Friday, we counted nine tents in the area.

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW

©2023 Cox Media Group