In Norristown, a protest for the homeless becomes a rally for solutions

A scheduled protest for people living homeless in Norristown never materialized Tuesday night.

Instead, six advocates who’ve been fighting for the roughly 160 people living in 20 encampments in the municipality stood outside a borough council meeting to talk about de-escalating what had become a fraught conflict with borough officials over the last month.

“The little battle that had played out got attention,” said Mike Kingsley, a Norristown minister who helps run a nonprofit that offers services to people living homeless. “Now is the time to quiet conflict and take small steps to help people in crisis.”

A larger protest had been staged at a borough council meeting two weeks ago.

In late May, advocates expressed anger when they said Borough Council President Tom Lepera had suggested busing people in encampments to Villanova University. Lepera was challenging Stephanie Sena, a school faculty member and homelessness advocate, who has advocated for those living in Norristown encampments.

Sena had previously said officials suggested “sweeping out” all encampment residents at the same time PECO announced it would move people living homeless on their property to remove “hazardous waste” and vegetation from the site, described as an electric transmission corridor.

No one had been cleared out of the PECO encampment as of Tuesday night, according to a utility spokesperson. It’s unclear what utility officials are currently planning.

Lepera has said his position has been “misrepresented,” and that he never expressed a desire to bus people who are unhoused to Villanova. He added that Norristown officials have not considered a full-borough sweep of those who are homeless.

Lepera did not attend Tuesday night’s council meeting. No one from council addressed the encampment issue.

Advocates talked about trying to find ways to make trash bins and portable bathrooms available to people living in tents. They echoed Lepera’s often-stated sentiments that Montgomery County municipalities other than Norristown should bear some of the burden of dealing with people who are living homeless. They added that they should hold protests in other townships to find solutions for those who are unhoused.

Still wary of Norristown officials’ plans, Bill England, 60, of Cheltenham, an advocate for people in poverty, said, “Ultimately, we don’t want people rounded up like animals and swept away. It’s why we are here tonight.”

For his part, Kingsley said he doesn’t believe that will happen.

“The borough got an awful lot of bad press and negative social media about moving people out,” he said. “They understand now that they’ll really be chastised if they ever try to sweep out anyone.”

During the borough council meeting, advocate Sherry Johnson, 58, of West Norriton, announced what she termed “happy news”: Cheryl Spaulding, a woman who had lived homeless about a year at the PECO site, was moved to her own one-bedroom apartment just hours before, with the help of advocates and nonprofits.

“Many people came forward who cared,” said Spaulding, 63. “It feels very good, and I just hope other homeless people can find housing as well.”

Along with public outcry over busing people to Villanova, advocates said, threatened legal action may have stayed the borough’s hand in clearing out individuals living homeless.

On May 25, the Community Justice Project (CJP), a Harrisburg-based nonprofit legal aid program that represents low-income Pennsylvanians, sent a letter to borough officials calling for an immediate cessation of “all current plans to sweep or to clear homeless encampments in Norristown.”

The letter expressed concern that any sweep might result in people’s possessions being destroyed or disposed of without being stored for residents to retrieve later.

Someone close to CJP’s involvement said Tuesday night that no lawsuit against Norristown has yet been filed.

Some key factors have exacerbated homelessness in Norristown, where 21% of the population of about 35,000 live in poverty.

In 2021, flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Ida damaged a low-income Norristown apartment complex with about 100 units, forcing tenants to evacuate.

Last year, a 50-bed homeless shelter in Norristown was closed after the state conferred the land on which the facility sat to the borough. County social services agencies petitioned to extend the lease of what had been the only local shelter, but Norristown officials declined.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” for Norristown to build something that generates tax revenue, Lepera said in late May.