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As a train barrels along the bridge above, Boz Malik describes his daily existence since being evicted from the homeless encampment at Christina Park. Wilmington officials shut down the eastside city-sanctioned campsite on June 15.
When the city forced residents out, it promised to help provide housing for those being displaced. But months later, some of those residents are back on the streets.
Malik said he was given a motel voucher to stay at the Superlodge motel for three months, but he and other former park residents were kicked out after about a month.
WHYY News obtained a flyer given to those living at the Superlodge. It stated that they had to be out by July 15.
He’s currently living beneath an underpass near the Wilmington Amtrak/SEPTA station.
“[City officials] started it, stopped it, put us in hotels, threw us out and threw us back out on the street in less than a year,” Malik said. “Now that we’re out here, [Wilmington police] don’t tell us we have to leave, but they push us around. ‘You can’t have this, you can’t have that. We’re throwing this out.’”
Wilmington Mayor John Carney announced last October that the city would allow a homeless encampment at Christina Park, while banning sleeping outside in all areas of the city.
Officials started issuing residents tents in April, only to announce in May that it was shutting it down. The park was fenced off and guarded by police officers as volunteers worked to help residents pack their belongings and leave.
Malik said the underpass, which lacks a place to shower or use a bathroom, is subject to sweeps by city officials, which the mayor’s office denied.
“If you’re not here with your belongings, when they come to clean, they throw everything in the trash. Doesn’t matter what it is,” he said. “Food, clothes — could be your medication, driver’s license, passport — doesn’t matter. They really don’t care. I mean, it’s a lack of caring.”
