Woman Dies In Tent Outside Homeless Shelter

MANCHESTER, NH - Manchester Police, fire, and AMR ambulance responded outside the Families In Transition shelter at 199 Manchester Street for an unresponsive person in a tent Sunday.

Firefighters arrived at the scene at 11:25 a.m. and quickly pronounced the person deceased and police closed off the area around Manchester Street.

Manchester Police secured the area around the tent where the person was found and began checking on the condition of the people in the other tents.

A local group handing out care packages to several of the people in the tents gathered people to bring them away from the scene where police were working.

Police said the person was an adult female and was found unresponsive in the tent, and the initial investigation is the death does not appear to be suspicious. A local funeral home arrived at the scene and removed the person from the tent.

The sidewalks around the Families In Transition shelter are the location where a large number of unhoused individuals have set up tents and make-shift shelters after being forced out of local parks by the City of Manchester. For several days wind, snow, and extremely low temperatures have been an added challenge for the people living in the encampment.

Many of the people living on the sidewalk encampment had previously been living in several encampments around the city of Manchester until they were removed.

Recently a person died inside the 1269 Cafe warming shelter which is acting as a warning shelter, the death appeared to be related to a medical incident.

Manchester has seen a growing homeless population and multiple deaths in the last two years. Dozens of small encampments have been established in wooded areas, doorways of businesses, and most recently the bus station on Canal Street.

Mayor Craig recently said the issues at the shelter are caused by the State Of New Hampshire. A memo was also recently distributed pointing to a Maine police department who drove a person to the shelter. The responsibility for a fire at an encampment under the 293 bridge near Frontage Road was also said to be the responsibility of the State of New Hampshire.

©Jeffrey Hastings www.frameofmindphoto.com/news