Homeless camp springs up in private park in Over-the-Rhine

The now smaller number of homeless people forced to move from one street encampment to another the past few weeks hopes they finally found a place to stay awhile. "We had rest last night for one of the first nights in a long time," said Desmond, one of the residents of a new camp in Over-The-Rhine. The camp, in a pocket park at 13th and Republic Streets, sprung up overnight Friday on private property after a judge banned their tents on public property in Hamilton County. The property owner told WCPO the group didn't ask permission to camp there, but they won't be kicked out either. "We've been doing this kind of work for about 40 years in this neighborhood, so this isn't the first group of campers who have been on our property and it won't be the last," said Andy Hutzel, housing director for Over-the-Rhine Community Housing. That organization has 450 housing units in the neighborhood - some set aside for the homeless. "Our role is, 'Let's engage them and see what kind of housing solutions we can come up with,'" Hutzel said.