LEWES, Del. - Tents are popping up at the old Troop 7 property in Lewes at 18006 Coastal Highway to help the local homeless population.
The tents on the property have been setup by the nonprofit, Code Purple, for displaced people in the area. Mike Agnew with Code Purple has named the village "Tharros."
"Tharros is a Greek word that means courage and determination," said Agnew. "I think it's a great name for this camp."
The village currently has room for 28 single-person tents that can house 14 men and 14 women. According to Agnew, there are no families in "Tharros."
Agnew says most of the people living in the village used to live in the trees behind the tents. The main problems with the woods, according to Agnew, were sanitation issues.
"We knew the people living in the woods without trash facilities and without toilet facilities. It was becoming a health problem. That's when we contacted the state, and said 'look, we need to address this issue,'" said Agnew.
According to Agnew, several companies have helped make the village possible. Casella provided assets for sanitation, Beebe Healthcare provides mental health services, Lewes Cycle Sports provides bikes and Village Improvement Association provides showers and lunches every Wednesday. Several other churches in the community also support the village and donate meals.
Agnew says when he contacted the state, they asked Code Purple to have a security plan for the village. Unlike living in the woods, "Tharros" requires each guest to have a permit.
"The state police will have copies of the permit of each individual. Within the next couple days, all of these tents will have numbers on them. The numbers will be associated with the individual, and when a State Trooper comes in, he'll have a list of everybody that's approved to be in the camp, along with their tent numbers and their pictures," said Agnew.
Agnew says each individual in the camp has signed a twelve point agreement that has been reviewed with them.
The camp will only exist for 45 days, until Nov. 30. After that, the people living in "Tharros" will move to a shelter for the winter. The shelter is open from Dec. 1 - March 15.
"It's somewhat of an experiment, right now, in self-governance," said Agnew.
Agnew says almost every person in the camp, with a few exceptions, is employed on Coastal Highway.
"But they're making minimum wage, or their making 15 dollars an hour and they're working in seasonal jobs that only gives them about 1,000 hours a year, if they're lucky. That's not enough to get a market apartment. You could get a subsidized apartment, but there's not subsidized apartments available. There's no workforce apartments available," said Agnew.
Agnew says each person in "Tharros" is required to participate in the case management program, which the First State Community Action Agency is providing.
"I'm very excited about the idea that we're not just warehousing people," said Agnew. "We're actually addressing the individual needs of each person."
Cody Blackwell lives in "Tharros." He says it's been peaceful.
"I've had a really good experience so far," said Blackwell. "No drama or anything."
This property used to be the location of the Delaware State Police Troop 7 building that was demolished back in June.
Before the building was demolished, it served as a Code Purple homeless shelter. The building was vacant since 2019, when troopers relocated to a new facility on Mulberry Knoll Road.