Women of Tent City Worry About Future Plans

OCTOBER 6, 2012-Tent City residents must soon move away from their compound on West 13th and Chestnut or risk going to jail for trespassing.

Residents are standing their ground as the October 10th deadline to move off of CSX Railway's property is fast approaching.

    Both 20-year-old Ariel Hamilton and 36-year-old Rhonda Mattie have bonded over the recent turmoil in Tent City.

    They are just two of very few women in the compound, and they worry about their future because there aren't enough homeless shelters for women.

    Tent City residents are being asked to move away because a man was hit by a train over the summer.  CSX officials say the area in now unsafe.

    But Diana Ames of the Pennsylvania Homeless Coalition worries even more for the women's safety as they are forced to move away.

    Both Hamilton and Mattie have no plans of leaving.  In fact, they tell us most of the residents are willing to stay and risk jail time.

    The Mental Health Association of North Western Pennsylvania is trying to help out.

    They are working out a plan to house some of the residents from Tent City, but they say they still don't have anything set in stone.