READING, Pa. – Reading’s Deputy Chief of Police Aaron Demko told Reading City Council on Monday that homeless encampments have been increasing in the city.
“We started looking into this back in July. This is obviously a very delicate thing that that we are approaching, and we, the police, are not the experts on that,” Demko said during the Committee of the Whole meeting.
“We’ve been doing outreach with various groups — the Berks Coalition on Homelessness, Street Medicine and Tec Centro have been assisting and some other local groups, and primarily, we’re focusing on outreach right now,” he said. “We started doing this in July just because winter is coming, and as we know, winters are brutal here.”
Demko said the homeless encampments have been growing along the river and span from Baer Park to Canal Street.
“My estimate is there’s well over 100 people living in camps,” Demko said. “There is, of course, some crime occurring within these camps. That’s why it’s kind of a police concern. I’d say it’s minimal because of the limited amount of things that are reported to us, but it is still a concern of ours.”
“We have a responsibility to ensure public safety in the whole city and that includes inside of these camps,” he said. “They are a little bit more difficult because of how isolated they are as you go up the Thun Trail…” he said.
Demko said the goal is to have organizations go into the camps to help as many of the homeless individuals get out of the situation before it gets to the point that the camps would have to be cleared for safety concerns.
“But again, it’s just such a very delicate matter,” Demko said. “The people in the camps are, of course, vulnerable. They’re in a terrible situation, and outreach is the primary goal while still maintaining order. People are in desperate situations, and we try to show compassion and understanding for the situation they’re in.”
Councilmember Chris Miller said the topic has been on everybody’s minds because the city is seeing its unhoused population grow.
“I can’t even imagine how much it is compared to last year, but I know it’s much larger just based on the number of camps,” Miller said. “And as you said, it’s more than just the large camp that everybody’s aware of down by the river, but there are several others throughout the city.”
Demko pointed out that there are people in the situation who want to be there and have refused assistance.
Managing Director Jack Gombach suggested council invite Opportunity House and the Coalition to End Homelessness to an upcoming meeting to make a presentation on their plans for this winter.
Council President Donna Reed said she would also like to see invitations extended to surrounding municipalities to participate in such a meeting.
Reed explained that homelessness occurs throughout the entire county but often becomes a city problem because that is where the social agencies are located.
“I think it’s absolutely paramount that the surrounding municipalities be a part of these conversations because there are certainly properties in these different municipalities that could be appropriate for some housing possibilities,” Reed said.