Some former Tent City denizens back in another encampment

Months after dozens of Camden's homeless were dramatically transported from their tent city and promised housing for a year, some have moved into a new encampment blocks from where they began.

Their presence in another outdoor settlement in Camden reflects the mixed results of a pastor's innovative, highly publicized effort to provide a better life for 54 street people, whom he escorted by motor coach to a Mount Laurel hotel in May.

It also shows the complications involved in solving the homeless problem in New Jersey's poorest city.

In high grass between the Cooper River and Admiral Wilson Boulevard, in the shadow of a Philadelphia tourism billboard and feet from vehicles racing to the Ben Franklin Bridge, 22 men and women have modeled a month-old village - dubbed Backwoods - after notorious Tent City.

There are rules. There is a mayor. And residents say they look after each other, like in any community.

A 26-year-old pregnant woman with fresh stitches near her black eye cries herself to sleep each night. She's comforted by her Backwoods neighbors, who act as counselors. Those designated as security guards look out for the return of the woman's ex-boyfriend, who she says beat her.

"I'd rather be in a home, but this is close," said Courtney Offenbacker, 26, formerly of Williamstown, who takes methadone for her heroin addiction and vitamins for her pregnancy.

"I screwed up in my life, and I just want my family to forgive me," she said.

The unofficial mayor of Backwoods, Geano Ortis, decides who stays and who goes. Ortis lived in Tent City - situated downtown, inside the Route 676 jughandle - when Pastor Amir Khan, of the nonprofit Nehemiah Group and Clementon's Solid Rock Worship Center, promised to save its residents.

Three or four others in Backwoods also were among Khan's transplants.

With $250,000 culled from donations and his personal fortune, Khan publicly vowed to pay for the Tent City group's housing and other services for a year.

That was a ruse, Ortis said.

"They made empty promises and then kicked us out, back on the street," he said.

Ortis says he was forced back to Camden after admitting he smoked pot. Khan says Ortis left voluntarily after testing positive for cocaine.

"They're taking the truth and twisting it," Khan said of those who have complained. "They think you're going to throw money at them without any sort of transformation."