Agencies help RI tent city residents

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Social service agencies in Rhode Island hope to provide help to dozens of homeless people living in a tent city in Providence.

Police and state officials have told the residents of “Camp Runamuck” to leave their camp under an old Interstate 195 bridge by Aug. 3. But some of the campers are vowing to set up a new camp on the Seekonk River in East Providence.

Crossroads Rhode Island president Anne Nolan says caseworkers from the agencies will visit the campers this weekend to determine which of them are most in need of services.

Nolan told the Providence Journal that some campers who are homeless may be squeezed into homeless shelters that are already at capacity—which is unusual for this time of year.