Wichita Police began setting up fences and restricting access to Chapin Park in southeast Wichita on Monday, as a city-imposed deadline approached to clear a large encampment there.
City officials have said they plan to clear out the park and remove structures there starting Tuesday. Residents were told they needed to move out by Monday, but many weren’t sure where they could go.
The entrance to the encampment was blocked by a police car Monday morning, and volunteers were initially told they could not get their vehicles through to help move residents’ pets and belongings.
Media also was not allowed into the park.
Wichita Police spokesman Andrew Ford said in an email that the restrictions “are not intended to prevent media coverage or limit transparency.
“They are necessary to maintain a safe and controlled environment for everyone involved, including our officers, outreach personnel, and service providers,” Ford said.
He said the city’s Homeless Outreach Team is working with residents “to help them leave voluntarily and connect them with available resources.”
The police department had community organizations and volunteers check-in with officers before entering or leaving the park. Wichita Police Bureau Commander Blake Mumma said in an email that volunteers were “all being admonished that the area is now posted for no trespassing and they will not be allowed to enter after today.”
Mumma said one community group had asked that police leave the park while they worked to relocate people living there, but the department refused because “this would not be safe for those who are in the process of leaving and those who are assisting them.”
Sara Cowling, a resident of the Chapin Park encampment, said the cleanup was being rushed and that residents don’t have many options on where to go.
“This is counterproductive,” Cowling said. “They spend so much of the taxpayers’ money — like $800,000 in the last four years, they’ve spent on the cleanups … Why not give the people that have been living out here an opportunity to earn some money so they can get their own housing?”
Cowling is the co-founder and outreach program director for Grassroots Bridge Builders, a nonprofit that offers peer navigation services to homeless people. She said she has been homeless most of her life and that in Chapin Park, people were allowed more privacy than most other places.
The park has been home to an encampment that some have called “Narnia” for more than a decade. While some of the people living in the encampment used tents, others had constructed more permanent structures and cabins from scrap wood.
Jerry Wills, an outreach case manager for HumanKind Ministries, came to Chapin Park Monday to help the final group of people gather their belongings. He echoed the frustrations of many residents.
“The city will tell you where you can’t be, but they won’t tell you where you can go,” Wills said.
Wills said law enforcement was called to the encampment site Monday morning after someone allegedly started fires. The Wichita Fire Department responded to the site, and the Kansas Highway Patrol circled the area with a helicopter.
Wichita City Manager Dennis Marstall said earlier this month that he’d decided to have the encampment cleared due to “a record of calls for service for police, fire and EMS.”
Marstall said the encampment was one of the first sites he visited after taking on the role of city manager in January.
City officials say the Wichita Police Department has responded to the area 69 times in the past three years for a variety of reports, including aggravated battery, kidnapping, arson and various firearm offenses.
Assistant Housing Director Steven Burt said last week that the city had reserved enough shelter beds at Second Light or Union Rescue Mission for the roughly 25 people still living at the park at that time. Burt said the housing department also had housing vouchers available for the people living in the park.
City officials said they have secured a storage container at Second Light for anyone transitioning into housing from one of the city’s local shelters. A city spokeswoman said that “storage will be available while [housing] units are being identified for vouchered clients.”
Wills said despite the city’s claims, there are not truly enough housing options at local shelters for all the people being displaced.
“Just because they have a bed doesn’t mean they’re going to meet the requirements for that bed,” Perry said. “Some people can’t even get the bed because they’re on probation or because they have too many dogs … it shouldn't be about sacrifice.”
The encampment had been home to dozens of dogs and a handful of cats. The Second Light shelter does not allow people using the program beds or emergency beds to bring their pets into the building. City officials said they had a deal with the city’s animal shelter and Wichita Animal Action League to reserve kennels and resources “to take care of animals while their owners identify stable housing.”
Local activist Rachel Perry, who has advocated for Chapin Park residents, said people in the encampment are looking for stability.
“Some of the longest residents down there were dropped here by the city originally,” she said. “Now they’re getting evicted suddenly so they (the city) can clean up, but … we could’ve easily cleaned out all the trash if they would’ve just given us some time.”
Perry said letting volunteers help clean out the site would have saved the city money. But because city leaders view homelessness “as a crime and not a crisis,” a lot of people are being negatively affected, Perry said.
Mumma said that police plan to execute a warrant to remove structures in Chapin Park on Tuesday.
“Anyone left inside will be told to leave,” he said. “No outside persons will be allowed in.”
On Wednesday, a private contractor hired by the city is scheduled to go into the park and clear it. The Journal reported that Boulevard Construction, the company hired to handle encampment removals, gave the city a $120,000 quote for the removal work. That amount is supposed to cover the cost of clearing 50 camping or housing sites within 45 days.
According to AlmaAnn Klaassen-Jones, a volunteer that was helping people move out, police did eventually let volunteers get their trailers down to the encampment site.
Klaassen-Jones said the Wichita Police Department moved most of the residents to this encampment, but made no effort to keep up with resources.
“People have built legitimate homes here,” Klaassen-Jones said. “There are sheds, one of them has plumbing in from the river, it’s really incredible to see.”
She said that while people were directed to the park from other areas of the city, she claims that city staff and police did not have consistent engagement with the people moved to Chapin Park.
“The city should’ve been maintaining this all along, so we’re going to make sure that the new place is maintained till we can find them a permanent living space where they can access all their resources,” Klaassen-Jones said. “That’s what we need to do, we should’ve done that before, we started this mess, we’re going to do it now.”
Where people will go is still up in the air. Some said the plan was to move residents to Garvey Park — an area next to Wells Middle School and just west of Chapin Park — but community organizers said that law enforcement had entrances blocked off for that encampment as well.
Police officials told KMUW that they were aware that some people were moving their belongings to Garvey Park. Police said that “HOT (the Homeless Outreach Team) and Housing [staff] has been in contact with those campers so that they are aware that they are in violation of the law and that we have resources and beds available now.”
Mumma said the department is not currently “posting (notices at) any of those campsites, but we will not allow anyone to begin erecting more permanent structures.”
Cowling said people are often told different things about where they are allowed to go or how long people will be allowed to be anywhere.
“This is a public park,” Cowling said. “It is state-owned … We’re fighting over land that is everybody’s.”
This piece was updated at 6 p.m., Oct. 12, 2026 to include additional information from community advocates.
