Wheeling To Close Managed Camp Site For Unhoused

A designated encampment for unhoused people in Wheeling will be closed Dec. 1. 

When the City of Wheeling passed its public camping ban in late 2023, a clause in the ordinance gave the city manager discretion to exempt certain outdoor camps within city limits. At the urging of community advocates, city manager Robert Herron exempted a parking lot near the Catholic Charities Neighborhood Center as the city’s sole managed camp when the law went into effect in early 2024.

At the Wheeling City Council’s regular meeting Oct. 21, council member Connie Cain asked Herron to withdraw the camp’s designation and begin the process of clearing the lot.

“Winter is approaching fast, and it is my understanding that last year, a small number of people remained in an exempted area over the winter, which I believe to be well within the number of beds available through the appropriate providers,” she said. “It is my opinion, and I hope that is shared with my colleagues on city council, that providing such an outdoor area during freezing temperatures and deteriorating conditions is not in the public’s best interest and does not serve the goals of council on furthering health, safety and welfare of those in the community.”

Mayor Denny Magruder called the camp a failure. 

“We’re more than two years in, I think it’s been a failure, not only for the camp residents, but for neighborhood citizens as well,” he said.

Council member Ben Seidler emphasized that the camp was always meant to be a temporary triage to connect people with more permanent services.

“That process has never happened. That camp is not a great place. It is a special spot of hell. And it’s time to close that,” Seidler said. “Those folks deserve better, and they need to be around the resources that are there. And you know that number is increased, not decreased, so what is supposed to happen is not happening. So I’m 100% on board at this point.”

Council member Ty Thorngate was the sole vote against the motion to ask the city manager to end the encampment’s exemption from the city camping ban. 

Officials with Herron’s office confirmed to West Virginia Public Broadcasting that notice of the site’s closure on Dec. 1 has been posted publicly.

In 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson that local government ordinances with civil and criminal penalties for camping on public land do not constitute cruel and unusual punishment of homeless people. Several West Virginia communities including Morgantown, Clarksburg and Parkersburg have passed their own camping bans in recent years.

During the 2025 regular session of the West Virginia Legislature, the House Judiciary Committee considered an ultimately failed statewide camping ban bill targeted at homeless encampments throughout the state.