A Chattanooga encampment for homeless people is being shut down because it sits on what had been an industrial-waste dumping ground.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports dozens of homeless people had taken up residence in a vacant lot ever since the closing of a cold-weather shelter . Occupants of the shelter had been given tents, and they set up a makeshift camp at the former dump site.

Stacy Richardson, chief of staff for Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke, says the city is paying to reopen the shelter for two weeks. Meanwhile, the mayor’s office is working with social-service agencies to locate permanent housing for the displaced homeless people – who are said to represent about one tenth of the city’s homeless population.

According to officials, because of its use as a hazardous-waste dump, the campsite should contain no permanent residences.

(Photo courtesy Chattanooga Times Free Press.)