“It is a transition period”
Jim Martin is the director of The Shepherd’s Office, which serves the homeless in southern Delaware. He draws on his own experiences with homelessness to guide his work. His organization provides critical support, providing over 300 hot meals and free clothing daily, as well as morning prayers and Bible studies for those in need.
After 15 years of helping those in need, including the camp’s residents, he said he was grateful to the previous landowner for allowing people to stay in the forest area for more than a decade.
“I don’t even know his name, but I love him because he’s tried to help all these years,” he said. “Now it’s time for a transition. What do we do now? Do we kick all the homeless out of Georgetown?”
The sale of the property by the private owner could set future development plans in motion.
“Everything has a beginning, middle and end, and well, it’s come to an end. (The previous landowner) probably announced a year ago that this day was coming,” Martin said. “He said, ‘Hey, we’re going ahead with development plans here and this is my private property, I’m allowed to develop it. So I’m trying to warn you guys.'”
Martin has a solution, but says implementing it will require cooperation between government and community leaders.
“It’s a center for the homeless,” Martin said of his idea to create a “shantytown,” a central place where homeless people can live and get the services they need.
His approach would be a pilot project designed to address the needs of Georgetown’s hundreds of homeless people and integrate services from key local institutions such as the Sun Behavioral Health Center, the Family Court, the Department of Child Services and the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles.
“It’s going to be a difficult issue, but I think they need to review the existing zoning code and just say, ‘Okay, you see those five acres over there? Let’s just give them to the homeless,'” he said. “Let them build a shanty town, because I don’t think the solution is to just have them disappear into the woods or behind a bush somewhere.”
“I’m reaching out to the elected officials now because we need their help, quite frankly. (Mayor) Bill West is doing everything he can to help them, but we may need the help of the county and state folks,” he added. “They need a place somewhere.”
Council member Tony Neal has lived in Georgetown almost his entire life. He currently lives near the train tracks where he has been able to observe people coming and going in the encampment. An active member of the community, he joined the City Council this year to address local issues such as homelessness and is working with others to address this major problem.
“By taking on the issue and doing what I’m supposed to do, I can make the community better, and now I have more influence to reach the other people in the community,” he said. “I had seen it before, but I never spoke up about it.”
A few weeks ago, community leaders met to discuss pressing issues. Homelessness was a common problem. Neal presented some possible solutions.
“We’ve just found some good solutions. We’ve talked about a few things, but I’m working on forming a committee to talk to certain people,” he said.
After forming his committee, Neal plans to present the solutions to stimulate discussion with council members, secure additional funding, and ultimately make Georgetown a better place to live.
