Tent encampment destroyed in Georgetown

GEORGETOWN, Del. – A five-year encampment referred to by the community, as Tent City, has been destroyed and covered by tree logs. More than 80 unhoused individuals must now move, including families, children, and those with disabilities.

Jim Martin of the Shepherd’s Office said local leaders need to come up with a plan, and not be complicit.

“You just want them to die as homeless people, is that the plan? That can’t be the plan, can it? I think that’s the plan though, because without doing anything then that is the plan, the plan is let’s hope they die off,” Martin said.

According to Martin, there are over 10,000 homeless individuals in Sussex County alone. The Tent City is in a wooded area, off of Douglas Street,

Martisia Gibbs, who lives in what’s left of the encampment said one bad apple can spoil the bunch.

“Everybody is coming back here, with the needles, the heroin, the bags,” Gibbs said. “I’ve been back here for four years, even the police came and the man that bought it came, and said y’all are not the problems.”

The area is now private property after being purchased, and thus, those who were there were forced to be moved elsewhere. Gibbs said she wishes people would look at them as people

“But I’m saying, don’t look down on us because we live in the woods, it’s not like they don’t see us, help us, help us,” Gibbs said.

The Shepherd’s Office is not legally allowed to house people due to coding restrictions. Martin believes local leaders have failed the unhoused.

“There are our leaders, that’s why we elected them to office, they’re the ones that have to decide how to navigate all these big social problems,” Martin said. “Every community needs to have a homeless village of tiny cabins, every single community, Laurel, Seaford, Georgetown, Milford, Millsboro. Everybody has to step up to the plate and do a program like that.”