Is Harrisburg’s unique approach to homelessness a model for Lancaster? Some advocates say yes

• By Jade Campos / LNP | LancasterOnline

Dozens of people are settling into a new home in the southern end of Harrisburg, with some of the residents relocating from just about a mile away.

Their new neighborhood is a gravel parking lot lined with green and blue tents dubbed the “Amiracle Community,” located on Shanois Street, just off of South Cameron Street.

Referred to as a “housing community” by its sponsor, the roughly football-field-size space opened in early August just as the city of Harrisburg and PennDOT moved toward closing a nearby unofficial encampment on state land.

Amiracle Community’s 3.45-acre space has room for at least 60 tents on 14-foot-square plots. The site is run by Harrisburg nonprofit Amiracle4sure, though city officials say they support the community and have pledged to provide fire, police, EMS and trash services.

Amiracle4sure purchased the lot earlier this year for $670,000. The tents currently on the site sit on top of wooden palettes to keep people off the bumpy ground. The goal is to add small homes to the property so residents are not in tents, Amiracle4sure said. So far, about 50 families are living at the Harrisburg property.

The idea of allowing homeless people to camp is one some Lancaster community organizers were urging city officials to consider even before Harrisburg began its experiment, prompted by the city’s decision to clear out a small encampment under the railroad bridge on Martha Avenue. Eventually, local outreach workers moved the men into housing before the city cleared the area.

Marsha Curry-Nixon, the founder and executive director of Amiraclesure, said she believes the current spot is acceptable to the city because it’s out of the way. The Amiracle Community site is surrounded on all sides by trees, and an Amtrak train line runs parallel to the site, making it difficult to see or access.

Amiracle Community in Harrisburg does not receive any taxpayer funds, Curry-Nixon said, relying instead on donations from the community, which she said have “poured in” since the project was announced earlier this summer.

She offered a piece of advice for Lancaster or any other community considering a similar approach: One organization needs to commit to doing the work as soon as possible.

“I just said ‘yes’ one day, and that’s how it happened,” Curry-Nixon said of Harrisburg’s camping space. “I think that’s how it has to happen in Lancaster.”

 

Local buy-in

One person desperate to say yes is Dave Costarella, a Lancaster Township man who founded the nonprofit Hand Up Partners, which provides services for and brings awareness to the local homeless community. The group started by paying unhoused people to clean city parks but recently expanded its work after formally becoming a nonprofit this year.

Costarella said he’s intent on replicating a program like Amiracle Community, which he calls safe and managed since residents go through a check-in process and staff maintain the site. He also points to A Haven for Hope in San Antonio, Texas, where an entire campus of social services where outdoor camping is permitted. Costarella said he eventually wants Lancaster to have its own campus.

Even though Lancaster saw the opening in January of an 80-bed low-barrier shelter at Otterbein United Methodist Church on East Clay Street, Costarella said he believes there is a need for alternative solutions. At least two other homeless shelters are open year round (the Columbia Dream Center and Water Street Mission), but the county’s shelter is the only one that opens its doors to anyone, no matter where they are from or if they are using substances.

With limited shelter beds, Costarella said many unhoused people are left to sleep in parks and on the streets, where they are told they cannot stay.

“They’re homeless and they’re getting chased around,” Costarella said. “You can’t do anything productive when that happens.”

Lancaster Mayor Danene Sorace has been firm in her opposition to allowing camping in city parks, which city law currently bans.

“We have limited green space, and that space must accommodate many different uses by all of our neighbors,” Sorace said in an email.

Sorace said she would be supportive if an organization stepped up to take on the responsibilities of running an encampment and found a spot that’s not part of a city park to make it happen.

Costarella has his eyes on a grassy field off Harrisburg Pike next to Penn Medicine Park, the stadium where the Lancaster Stormers play. The land is currently owned by Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health.

As of Friday afternoon, LGH had not responded to questions about the status of the property, which is part of a larger “stadium district” that local planners envision as a mixed housing and commercial development. In a story published earlier this month, LNP quoted an area resident who noted that two major property holders — Franklin & Marshall College and Penn Medicine LGH — have not put forward any development plans for parcels they own in the district for several years.

Funding challenges

One advocate who believes encampments are a part of the solution to homelessness is Amy DiAmico from Rochester, New York.

DiAmico, an outreach worker and attorney, traveled to Harrisburg’s Market Square Presbyterian Church last weekend to talk about Rochester’s Peace Village, which opened in 2018. She said Peace Village was created as a low-barrier solution for people not suited to traditional shelters — such as people with pets, or those with active substance abuse problems or whose past trauma made it difficult to be in a shelter environment.

“Most people aren’t outside because they want to be,” DiAmico said. “They’re outside, because it’s the most viable place for them.”

Peace Village started as a tent community, but harsh winter weather forced nonprofit leaders to swap out tents for small sheds. DiAmico said the sheds kept people alive but were “rudimentary” and led to unsanitary conditions.

Peace Village has been closed since 2023, as city and nonprofit leaders work to install pallet shelters, which are similar to tiny homes. Contractors are also updating water pipes and adding electricity to the site.

As Peace Village makes improvements, DiAmico said the encampment probably won’t be able to serve the people it was originally intended for. The new space will require some form of security and supervision that will push away people who have trauma or a criminal background.

Brian Keene, building and grounds manager for a Rochester homeless shelter called House of Mercy, said the community is just waiting for a nonprofit to step forward to run the encampment’s operations.

With upgrades that will require regular maintenance and staffing, Keene projected Peace Village’s annual operating costs to be upward of $1 million. A stable budget, Keene said, is essential to operating an encampment, though Peace Village was launched in 2018 with just an initial $1,000.

Costs and the complexity of managing an encampment are what turned Lancaster County officials away from the idea.

Deb Jones, executive director of Lancaster County’s Homelessness Coalition, said the coalition determined an encampment was “not a viable solution” because it would be challenging to pay for it and to ensure it complies with local regulations. Consistent management of an encampment was another concern.

“The homelessness response system will continue to focus on stabilizing emergency shelter and increasing affordable housing, especially as the local data supports that once people are housed, they’re in a better position to address other challenges in their lives and become stable,” Jones said via email.

Justin Eby, the executive director of the county redevelopment authority, later said encampments are not completely off the table, but stressed the continued focus on shelter beds.

Costarella, for his part, said a Lancaster encampment is needed now as a short-term solution, because building new housing and shelter space takes time.

“This would be an option for right now, for the people we have on the streets,” he said. “(Jones) needed houses three years ago.”

DiAmico said the Rochester program taught her that communities need to adopt a mix of solutions to serve the wide variety of people who are experiencing homelessness. Encampments can be a part of that, she said, along with more addiction recovery centers and local churches opening space up to serve the community.

Governments need to identify homelessness as a public health issue, she said, to make it easier for encampment and shelter projects to receive government funding.

“We have to see it as a public health problem, not a character flaw,” she said.