MICHAEL S. WIRTZ / Inquirer Staff Photographer
A dwelling assembled by the homeless in the 1600 block of Moravian Street.
Homeless in Philadelphia: First of three parts
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Two Sides of the Street
As homelessness mounts, the struggle over shelter — and rights — intensifies.
In an interview shortly before he took office, Nutter said the city would have to be fair and humane, "but we will also have to be relentless. . . . We cannot allow people to sleep on sidewalks, sleep on benches, sleep in parks as if that is their regular living space."
Monty's perspective
Charlene built the bunker on Moravian Street.
Monty says she moved there in December. He lives next to her in a doorway of the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia.
"I was raised Catholic and always knew that when I ran into trouble, I could run to the church," says Monty, 56, who is tall and lean with a thin gray beard and watery eyes.
From his perch, Monty sees all the people who drift in and out of Moravian Street, using it like an outdoor hostel. Most offer only their first name.
There's Isabel, a short German woman who traveled down from New York City. And Alfred, who ended up on the streets after the city demolished his dilapidated house in North Philadelphia.
On the church's front steps on 17th Street, two young drifters - Jeremy and John - take turns strumming a pawnshop guitar as passersby drop bills into their black cap on the ground.
That's a problem for an older man, who claims a spot just feet away. He has just written out a new cardboard sign: "Out of Kindness. Please help." A stuffed blue monkey holds his paper cup.
"He wants us to leave," Jeremy tells John. They move to Walnut Street.
Monty is among those too proud to panhandle. He collects scrap metal and cans from Dumpsters on Moravian. Twenty-four cans will get him 35 cents. Monty, who once worked as a hotel cook and had a home in Northeast Philadelphia, has been on the streets for seven years.
Sitting on a mattress shoved into the church's back door on Moravian, Monty says he can get a free meal almost every day. He's just back from a pasta lunch and movie, Meet the Fockers, at the Lutheran Church of the Holy Communion at 21st and Chestnut Streets.
Outreach workers, he says, always try to get him off the streets. But he doesn't like shelters. "Too much conflict." And he's afraid that his possessions, kept in a big cardboard box, would be stolen.
On Moravian, Monty says, "I feel a little safe."
It's getting dark. Soon, Monty will walk around the corner to the ING cafe on Walnut Street. He'll pass the time watching football and wrestling's Smackdown on big-screen televisions inside - from a perch on a sidewalk planter outside.
What to do?
Downtown residents last year ranked as their top concern the number of people living on streets - the first time that had happened since the Center City District, a special-services unit funded by downtown property owners, began polling people in 1992.
The city has also received more citizen complaints about aggressive behavior by homeless people, such as refusing to leave hotel lobbies and throwing bottles at passersby.
There's pressure on the city to ban outdoor feedings of homeless individuals. Some would like the city to go further and enforce the ban on camping in Fairmount Park, which covers Rittenhouse Square, JFK Plaza, and open space along the Parkway.
Mintz, head of the city's Office of Supportive Housing, said some people believe "the ideal solution is to do something so they can't visibly see the homeless."
