MILFORD, Del.- Displaced homeless people in town are in search of a new place to stay. They have moved out of the "tent city" they called home for years.
Developers began preparing the property for construction today.
The property off East Masten Circle was purchased in December and those living there had to vacate the property by Jan. 15.
Milford Advocacy for the Homeless (MAH), and other volunteers, spent Saturday cleaning the lot.
MAH vice president, Cynthia Dawe, said it was a disheartening day.
"They didn't know what to do they were very confused and just aimlessly wandering," said Dawe.
Advocacy president, Martha Gery, said some people have a plan while others are still desperate for somewhere to stay.
"Some of them will be able to stay with family but many of them won't and that's why they were living in tent city, because they've burned bridges," said Gery. "Other people decided to move into other wooded locations in the area and chances are they are going to be asked to vacate those areas also."
Volunteers stepped up to help over the weekend, but Dawe said the team "just did not have enough hands to clean up all of it and to help all of the people that needed to be helped."
Deb Karr-Francis, who lives in Sussex County, read about the situation on social media. She decided to do what she could.
"I contacted the page manager who talked to me about things that the folks needed and then she was able to tell me I could get a $50 zero degree sleeping bag and that's what I did," she said.
"That gesture could change the persons life that receives it."
Karr-Francis previously worked with the National Alliance on Mental Illness New Hampshire or NAMI NH.
She told WBOC, "to help somebody doesn't have to be financial it could be giving a smile or just the mere act of acknowledging somebody that you see either homeless or on the street asking for money."
MAH plans to continue looking for rental spaces for those still left homeless.
Dawe said she was pleased with Milford councilmembers' feedback at previous meetings.
"That has impacted my heart to see that folks on the city council can actually have a heart for this," said Dawe.
"They want community support, they want everybody to come together as a village. [City council] alone cannot solve this yet everyone thinks they can."
Milford city council will meet on Jan. 23.