PHILADELPHIA - Homelessness has long been a concern in Norristown, Pennsylvania now allegations that a public official threatened to bus the homeless out of town has turned it into a controversy.Under the shade of trees and tucked back from the Stony Creek, sits a gathering of tents and makeshift wooden homes where forty of Norristown’s homeless live.
Among the encampment residents is 34-year-old Draya Lamacchia, she arrived a year ago when she lost her housing in Philadelphia.
Lamacchia, a mother of three boys under 10-years-old who do not live with her, lives in a tent and fears losing what little she has by being forced out.
She is among what Norristown's administrator says are 250 homeless people living in the county drawn here by city services and placing an unfair burden on the community. "Norristown has always and will always do its part, but this is a county issue, this is not a Norristown issue," Crandall Jones said.