Several Lawrence community members, both housed and unhoused, pleaded with city commissioners Tuesday not to close the camp where people are living behind the Amtrak station in East Lawrence.
City staff members announced last month that they plan to close the camp effective Oct. 15.
“The goal of this effort is to help each person living at the camp exit unsheltered homelessness by October 15,” the city announced in a news release. “Investments in the multi-disciplinary Homeless Response Team, which allowed team members to begin forming relationships and understanding the needs of these individuals, and expanded shelter capacity make this effort possible.”
Speaking regarding both the 2025 city budget and during general public comment, people asked commissioners on Tuesday to prevent the camp from being closed.
Several raised concerns that there aren’t enough shelter beds for everyone who would be displaced if the camp is closed, and even if there were, not everyone who lives outside is able to stay in congregate shelter situation like the Lawrence Community Shelter.
Another option is the Pallet shelter village on North Michigan Street, but the 50 cabin-like individual shelters have consistently been full since the village opened in the spring. James Chiselom, executive director of the Lawrence Community Shelter, said during the most recent LCS board of directors meeting that Pallet already has a wait list of 80 people.
Misty Bosch-Hastings, director of the city’s Homeless Solutions Division, said last month that there were about 25 people living at Amtrak. Karlin, a resident of the camp, told commissioners Tuesday that there are about 50 people living there right now.
Karlin told commissioners that closing Amtrak would just displace those people into other parts of the city “and cause more problems for them and for you guys.”
“I’ve never fit in, and it’s nice to have a place where I can go where I feel like I am somewhat at home, because I am accepted and I am loved,” he said.
Jade Drum, another resident, told commissioners that the people living at Amtrak are a family and they’re not homeless — they go to bed the same place every night, and they go to breakfast every Tuesday and Friday.
“We’d like for the whole community to come together and not us be singled out and bullied,” she said.
Guy Drum, Jade’s father, said he has a home, and he’s lived there four years — it doesn’t have a doorknob or light switches, but it’s home.
“If you put us out of that camp, it’s not gonna get rid of us. We will still be somewhere,” he said. “… I just want to find a way for us to work together. That’s all I want to do.”
Rowan Scheuring said that not even all the people who were staying at the last major camp the city closed — the North Lawrence camp that was behind Johnny’s Tavern, which was closed in April — has gotten into a better living situation yet, and she said she didn’t have a lot of faith that “we can get everyone into a better situation than they are at Amtrak” by Oct. 15.
Scheuring said it generally starts to get colder here in October, and she doesn’t think it’s a good time to start displacing people.
“Please come at this with a plan first, and then maybe it can be closed when there’s nobody there because they’ve gotten into a better situation — not because they’re being forced out,” she said.
Multiple advocates told the commission that the Amtrak camp is close to resources and meals for the people who live there.
Kirby Evers said some of the other camps can’t be reached in vehicles and require “quite a hike” just to get there, which makes it more of a challenge for anyone trying to get there to provide services for people.
Some advocates called for the city to release data on where people who have been displaced from camps have ended up.
A group has started a petition to “Stop the Sweep on Amtrak,” on paper and on the website Action Network. As of Tuesday evening, the online version had just more than 200 signatures.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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