Bucks County government employees removed a scattered homeless encampment from the woods behind the Lower Bucks County Government Services Center in Bristol Township on Tuesday.
In total, 28 tents and various belongings and debris were removed from the woods near the Bucks County Emergency Homeless Shelter and Bucks County Technical High School. County crews were seen using construction equipment to remove some of the items.
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James O’Malley, a county spokesperson, told LevittownNow.com human services officials were on scene to connect those displaced with services and assist them with finding shelter.
“This wasn’t kept a secret,” the spokesperson said. “We want them to get the services they need.”
The county sent staff and rangers into the woods over the past two weeks to advise those living there that the encampments would be removed and help was being offered, O’Malley said.
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Bucks County Division of Human Services Director Rachael Neff said case workers, co-responders, and nonprofits took part in the efforts to help the six people displaced from the woods. Others are believed to have departed the woods ahead of Tuesday’s cleanup.
As Neff was explaining the process, a van with several people who had been living in the woods passed by. The van was taking the group to a facility with showers and meals.
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The county collected items that were clean from the camps and was working with the health department to store them in pods so the residents of the former encampment could go through their belongings.
One of the people who was living in the woods ended up speaking with LevittownNow.com. She declined to give her name, but said she had been living there since she lost her apartment following months of health setbacks last fall.
“They took everything I had,” she said. “I haven’t been incarcerated, don’t do drugs, and do not bother anybody.”
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The woman said the camp had recent problems, including violence and a recent overdose death.
“I understand we’re not supposed to be there, but we were,” the woman said, adding she is educated and is just trying to get by.
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Neff said the county was prepared to help the residents.
Authorities have responded to emergency calls and crime issues in the woods recently, confirmed Audrey Kenny, the county’s director of emergency services.
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The operation to clean out the woods started around 8 a.m. and brought out a number of county departments, including human services, emergency management, the fire marshal, rangers, security guards, general services, and public information. The services offered were more varied than past cleanups of the woods.
County human services, emergency management, and law enforcement will be meeting to look at options to keep camps from popping back up in the woods, said Kenny.
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