Jamestown has declared a State of Emergency due to unauthorized camping throughout the city.

City officials say an estimated 300 people are camping on both public and private land, causing health and safety concerns and impacting city resources.

Mayor Kimberly Ecklund says this was not an easy decision for her to make. 

She said her priorities lie in maintaining public health for the city as well as other places downstream of the Chadakoin River. That’s because these encampments tend to be along the waterway, and she says human waste and used needles are polluting the area.

Ecklund said she has been working with local nonprofits but they are “overburdened” with the issue.

She says the issue of homelessness is exacerbated by New York Mental Hygiene Law 939, which permits the involuntary commitment of people who may be a danger to themselves or others to the hospital.

Jamestown is home to UPMC Chautauqua, which is the sole mental health evaluation facility in the county.

Those who may be seen and released because they don’t fit the criteria for a hold, Ecklund believes, wind up on the city’s streets with nowhere else to go.

Now, with this declaration, she hopes to get state and federal assistance.

“If they really are on the border of an in-house or if UPMC is full, there's nowhere left for them to go and we don't have a lot of drug addiction centers," said Ecklund. "We have a drug addiction problem in the state and the needles are atrocious. Debris is running into the river. It's a health and human services human waste byproduct all around.”

Josiah Lamp, the director of housing and community services at Chautauqua Opportunities, says the issue goes beyond hospital discharges and is multifaceted. The organizations he works for have been stretched thin.

He added that Jamestown has some emergency housing facilities on the horizon but they may not open until the fall.

“Raising awareness is a good thing, and bringing resources to the community because we are very stretched thin as our homeless population has grown," said Lamp. "They are in a difficult situation, but everybody deserves to be treated with respect and dignity and their civil rights maintained.”