‘Not right’: Wilmington mayor announces new homeless strategy, blames Philly for rise in city’s unhoused population

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Delaware housing advocates are criticizing the city of Wilmington’s steps to address its homeless crisis.

Wilmington Mayor John Carney said his administration will allow unhoused people to sleep in a park on the Eastside, banning all other encampments. The city will temporarily sanction Christina Park, already a tent village, as a safe place for the homeless to live.

“As we attempt to provide support for the unhoused here in Wilmington, we have a responsibility on how, on behalf of the residents of neighborhoods, to ensure that Wilmington operates in an orderly and lawful way,” he said.

Nearly 1,600 people are unhoused in Delaware, according to January’s Point in Time count by the nonprofit organization Housing Alliance Delaware. More than 600 reside in Wilmington.

Carney said Philadelphia’s efforts to clean up Kensington, an area known for an open-air drug market and homeless encampments, is adding to Wilmington’s homeless population looking for shelter and services.

Shyanne Miller, progressive governance director with the Working Families Party, said advocates will push back on the city’s plan to outlaw people from sleeping outside in other areas of the city, arguing it criminalizes the unhoused.

“When we say we’re going to do something like an encampment ban, you’re saying that even people who are trying their best to get out of homelessness and that are contributing in the way you want them to, you’re still going to arrest them if they have no choice but to sleep outside,” she said. “And that’s not right.”

Wednesday’s announcement by Carney closely mirrors recommendations by a city task force issued in September to combat the issue of homelessness. The group’s recommendations included allowing a temporary tent village at Christina Park, modeled on Tharros Village in Lewes. Tharros allows 28 tents, but it’s unclear how many tents will be allowed at Wilmington park.

Carney said city officials would provide restroom facilities and clean water for Christina Park residents and will explore adding a shower facility there. On-site security is also part of the plan.

The city is also working with the Wilmington Housing Authority and the Ministry of Caring to open a dining hall for the homeless at the WHA site a block away from Christina Park.

Carney said the city wants to develop it in the long term into a center where people can stay during the day to get off the streets. Emergency shelters are often closed during the day. The city got $600,000 from state lawmakers in the 2026 fiscal year budget to renovate the WHA facility but would need more funding to convert it into a day center.

A recommendation to build “tiny homes” was put on the back burner as Carney said he didn’t know where it could be located.

Carney says Philly encourages homeless to move to Wilmington

Mayor Carney said he blamed other parts of the state and cities in other states for encouraging unhoused people to get services in Wilmington. In a letter to Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker in May, Carney said her office’s efforts to clear a homeless encampment on a two-block stretch of Kensington Ave were dramatically increasing the unhoused population in Delaware’s largest city.

Carney also cited media reports about Philadelphia’s program giving homeless people bus tickets to other cities and states to argue that this was also expanding Wilmington’s unhoused population.

“It’s just not right for these other places, cities and towns to send their folks to Wilmington,” he said. “The constant influx from other cities and towns makes it harder for us to care for the population here, and most importantly, it’s unfair to the city residents who live in these neighborhoods.”

However, NBC Philadelphia reported that between July 2021 and May 2025, the Stranded Traveler Assistance program funded 875 trips out of Philadelphia, to 276 U.S. cities and towns. Of those, 14 trips went to Delaware, with eight going to Wilmington.

Parker’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Miller said the city has thousands of vacant properties that could be used to help the homeless. The mayor said one of his administration’s long-term goals is to take vacant properties and develop affordable housing.