Eviction Day for Homeless at West Side Park

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — People living in a homeless camp on the city’s West Side have been evicted, and now must be out of Mulkey Square Park by this afternoon or face being arrested.

Kansas City, Missouri, Police responded to neighborhood complaints about trash and at least one assault at the park a week ago, and now the homeless residents who called the park home must find a new place to live.

“I was making $27.50 an hour and my husband was a truck driver and when this happened,” said one homeless woman, who asked not to be identified. She says that she’ll move out of the park into an apartment.

Jessica Brown from the CASA Vet Institute was at the park on Monday morning, finding out if any of the veterans in the camp are eligible for benefits.

“So anything that we can do to help fight homelessness we will do that, with the veterans,” said Brown.

Former homeless man Richard Tripp, who now helps people who are homeless themselves, says that for the now-former residents of the park, the name of the game is survival.

“They will move and they will survive,” said Tripp.