Southern Delaware ‘Tent City’ disappears, leaving Georgetown’s homeless in the shadows
An unofficial gathering space for the town’s homeless population was dismantled for development, raising urgent questions about where they would go.
4 months ago
After nearly two years of supporting Georgetown’s homeless community under a temporary tent, the Pallet Village has officially broken ground on a permanent community center. The new facility will include a kitchen, office space, meeting and telehealth rooms and a multipurpose room, providing residents with essential resources and a sense of stability and care. (Johnny Perez-Gonzalez/WHYY)
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For nearly two years, Georgetown’s Pallet Village has been a sanctuary for individuals experiencing homelessness, providing shelter and a path to stability for about 40 residents. Since its inception, the village has helped roughly 30% of its residents transition to permanent housing, while only 10% have returned to living in the woods.
However, the village’s capacity to fully support its residents has been constrained, at least until now. Recently, village organizers broke ground on a permanent community center, a transformative upgrade from the large white tent that had previously served as the hub for communal activities.
“For two years now, we’ve been operating with meals being provided to wherever we can find the space to prepare them,” Judsone Malone, executive director of Springboard Delaware. “Now we’ll have a beautiful commercial kitchen and so that’s going to be a huge help.”
The tent, which sat on a plywood floor, provided basic services but was far from ideal.
“We had a propane tent heater that worked very well in the winter,” Malone shared. “But we’ve never been very successful at keeping it cool in the summer. It’s always been, you know, a make-do type of situation.”
In an effort to improve conditions before the construction of the community center, grant funding allowed the village to purchase pre-built, Amish-style sheds. These sheds were converted into office spaces with finished interiors, heating and air conditioning.
The new 2,000-square-foot community center is poised to revolutionize the village’s operations. Scheduled for completion this spring, the building will feature a commercial kitchen, a multi-purpose room for meals and events, a telehealth-equipped private conference room, office spaces and restrooms.
Beyond providing essential amenities for residents, the center is also designed to foster community integration. Springboard Delaware plans to make the facility available to the First State Community Action Agency and neighboring residents, further connecting Pallet Village to the broader community.
“We also want to offer it as a space for, potentially, the surrounding neighborhood to be able to do events. We look at it as a way to connect the village to the larger community,” he said. “The more we contribute to the neighborhood, you know, the more they accept the fact that we are there, the more they appreciate what we bring.”
For residents, the community center offers a much-needed common space, addressing a critical gap in their current living arrangements. With individual cabins measuring just 65 square feet, the shared areas will provide vital opportunities for residents to gather, socialize and build connections.
“There needs to be common areas where they can meet and interact with the other residents, to just sit and chat, [play] cards, eat meals,” he said. “We’ve done that in the tent. But it’s not the most ideal circumstance.”
The addition of the new building will allow the Pallet Village to enhance its current services and programs, such as the Healing Arts initiative and the Resident Steward program. These programs not only support residents’ mental health and trauma recovery, but also encourage a sense of responsibility and community involvement.
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