WATCH NOW: Atlantic City police break up homeless encampment under Playground Pier

ATLANTIC CITY — Bill Butler, who is homeless, was awake at 7 a.m. on Monday when he and about 20 others were abruptly visited by city officials and told to vacate an encampment they had set up under Caesars’ Playground pier.

Butler and about 20 to 25 squatters were escorted from the spot, first discovered underneath the pier last week, where many homeless were staying.

Most of the Boardwalk was quiet while the homeless people at the camp carried away various items stuffed into gym bags and milk crates, some hauling their items up the Boardwalk by hand, in a stroller or a dolly.

One woman even had a dog living with her underneath the pier. The animal was taken by Atlantic County Animal Control.

Butler, who is originally from Philadelphia, said he developed a drug habit after he was injured while working as a commercial truck driver. That drug habit caused him to end up on the streets. He said the hardest part about being under the pier is “trying to survive,” but he’s ready to get help.

“It’s not easy at all,” Butler said while he packed to move out, having lived under the pier for over a year.

Partners from the entities involved in the sweep united last week after learning about the camp. About 30 to 40 people are believed to have been living there, AtlantiCare Case Manager and Community Projects Coordinator Vinnie Kirkland said.

Mike B., a Middlesex County native who declined to give his full last name, said word got around last week that teams were coming to escort the people out and break down the camp.

“They waited for the cops to show, then started cleaning,” the new father to a baby girl born on Sunday said.

The city government was aware the sweep was happening on Monday, city spokesperson Andrew Kramer said.

“A situation like this poses extreme health, safety and security concerns not just to those under the pier, but also to individuals in the vicinity,” Mayor Marty Small’s office said in a Monday afternoon statement. “As soon as the city was made aware of the situation, we took action.”

The people living under the pier were told last week that they’d have to leave, and that Monday’s sweep was a final check to make sure people left and help anyone still there pack up, Kramer said.

A cleanup team was assembled between city police, AtlantiCare, Volunteers of America, Jewish Family Services and the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority.

Some homeless were still hauling their belongings out from underneath the pier around 9 a.m. while cleanup crews went in with trash bags and flashlights.

Underneath, the crews worked to clear the camp nestled in the city beach’s sand and woven between the pier’s concrete supports, going as far back to near where the Boardwalk and pier meet.

Some of the people living there had pitched tents, while others used cardboard for flooring or a bed.

“It’s not a healthy environment to live in,” Kirkland said, adding that out-of-county people found under the pier will be sent to their home counties for help.

Sections of the pier’s undercarriage are fit with metal fencing, but pieces of it have been broken down for holes, giving people access to the structure’s west section. Crew members brought in pieces of plywood, dropping them from an upper balcony onto the sand, to use for patching the gaps.

On the opposite side of the pier, an entirely different crew was preparing the stage for when Phish and TidalWave Music Festival welcome thousands to the city this weekend and next.

Volunteers of America has been undertaking homeless outreach in the city since 2015, doing it through its Impact Program, said Amanda Leese, the senior vice president of Volunteers of America Delaware Valley, who was helping clear the camp Monday.

The group, Leese said, heard the number of people living at the camp underneath the pier may surpass 40. She’s no stranger to scouring homeless camps in the state, arming herself with rubber gloves and a mask to help move the inhabitants and their things out and getting them into programs, she said.

“It’s very frustrating because in talking to a couple of individuals under there, they want somewhere to go that is clean, safe and where they can receive services,” Leese said, adding that she has done human trafficking outreach under the pier in prior years. “Right now, we don’t have that in the city where they can stay 24/7.”

State data from 2020 indicates about 1,493 people in New Jersey identify as being chronically homeless. Many experts and homeless advocates agree the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the situation.

The poverty rate in Atlantic City is 35.2%, more than triple the national poverty rate of 11.4%, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey in 2020.

Many people experiencing homelessness are just looking for help to jumpstart a stable life, Leese said.

For Mike B., he plans to leave Boardwalk pier for detox to handle his struggles with substance abuse that he’s dealt with since he was 15 years old, after being hit by a car. He’ll then enter a Christian-oriented rehab, he said.

“It’s an eye-opener,” Mike B. said of the homeless sweep. “Now, you got nowhere to sleep. It might force you to make a better decision in your life.”