Last week, it was announced that a tentative agreement was made between the City of Philadelphia, Philadelphia Housing Action, and the residents of Camp JTD. The encampment, which formed at 22nd street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in early June, agreed to reopen the stretch of 22nd that had been barricaded. In return, the city was offering “50 houses” to the 150-plus residents of the encampment.
Specific details of the ongoing negotiations have yet to be made public, however, Grid spoke with residents of the camp about their experiences there and the steps they’re hoping to see taken before its disbanding.
Our first interview, transcribed below, was with a camp resident who goes by the name of “Beast,” who in addition to being one of the oldest residents of the encampment he has also been there since its early days in June. Even at 60 years of age, Beast is constantly looking for ways to help out around the camp. He is also known for sharing his poetry with activists and encampment members.
Neighborly Occupation: Voices From The Encampment is a series of interviews with Camp JTD residents and affiliated activists about the tentative housing deal being forged with the city. The following interview is the first in a series of six. It has been edited for clarity and style.
Welcome to the James Talib-Dean homeless encampment here on 22nd and the Benjamin Franklin parkway. My name is Jason Peters. I’m an independent journalist and I am here for Grid Magazine and I am talking to Beast.
How long have you been out here in the encampment?
All four months.
You’ve been all four months. Talk to me about your day to day. What do you do while you’re here every day?
Help out where help is needed. Help in the kitchen, help with donations, help somebody out putting their tent down or cleaning up.
So when you talk about helping, I think that the camp doesn’t get credit for is the fact that it is actually a community, like a fully functioning society where you guys are helping to feed each other, helping to sort donations and build up the tents. Can you speak a bit about that? Compared to what it’s like to be on the streets?
Okay. It’s better! Because you know, you got somewhere a little comfortable to lay your head instead of on the concrete. You’re not out in the elements. You don’t have to deal with the rain, the cold, or, well, in this case, coming up soon, the snow.
Are you worried about that?
Nope.
Why not?
I know what to do.
Please share with me, what do you do? If you find yourself homeless in the winter?
You find a place where you’re not in the elements, where there’s no cold wind blowing. If you got your blankets, you set them up, get up on your blankets. Once you get warm, don’t move.
So do you anticipate to still be in a tent in the winter?
Hopefully with this deal in the process, we won’t be out here much longer.
Do you anticipate that the 50 houses will be delivered? Do you trust the city to do that?
Right now, they’re doing everything they say they’re gonna do but… I just fear…[if] something happens that they don’t like, they might pull the deal off the table, then we’re stuck and we’re gonna stay the way we are. Ain’t no sense of moving from here to open space… Scattered. If they do make a deal, you gotta collect everybody from different spaces.
What do you mean?
Like, if we leave here, you have to find somewhere to lay your head at night. Somewhere to store your stuff so it don’t get stolen. So it’s better to keep us here until the deal is finalized, and not try to push us out.
They want a 22nd [Street] deal. They wanted it opened, we opened it. So, now you got it on the table. Let’s finish the deal. Get us out of here.
Is there anything that you think the average person doesn’t understand about being homeless?
Well, a lot of people look at a lot of us here, and see the way we dress, and say “There’s no way you could be homeless.” I don’t know what homeless look like. All I know is I’m out here in the streets. I ain’t have no place to go. So you can’t tell me I’m not homeless. You ain’t experienced what I’ve experienced.
Is there anything, anything that you want shared with the world?
Well, we still need donations. We need warm clothes, coming up with [the] cold weather. Coats, jackets, tents, blankets, sheets, whatever you can afford to bring, we appreciate.
Is there anything that you miss the most about just having a house?
Look, see, I didn’t just live in a house, I lived in a home. I didn’t just lose a house. I lost a home. And that’s what I want to regain. And at this point it’s by any means necessary.
