Courier Journal – by Justin Sayers and Phillip M. Bailey
Jeffery Byrd squats down on a plastic crate, wearing the same white paint-splashed jeans and beige coat he’s been wearing for two weeks without a shower.
To his left is Roc Peeler, confined to a wheelchair — the rubber on its wheels worn to the rim — his way to get around after he lost his right leg to frostbite.
Their living room is a blend of dirt, brush and trash, while their walls are a web of blankets, tree limbs and chain-link fencing. Peeler, 48, sleeps in a broken tent while Byrd, 42, takes the ground — unless it is raining and the two will jam inside the small shelter.
Byrd and Peeler are invisible to most who pass through east downtown. The only way to get to them is through a gate on Floyd Street, concealing the two men, by design, in the enclave between Jefferson Street and the Interstate 65 off-ramp.
“We’re trying to hide from people. The only thing we’re trying to do is exist,” said Byrd, who has lived in this homeless camp for more than a year. Peeler has been there for four.
Now their time at the site may be up. Louisville Metro Police have put a notice on the gate warning the men and the two other people who sleep there that the city will be conducting a “clean-up” of their camp on or after Friday.
Illegal encampments, city officials say, can be a health hazard and have no place on public property given the available shelters. Mayor Greg Fischer’s administration and police officials also say the city has given enough notice to accommodate people living in camps.
“Anything that’s done is done on a humane basis,” said Eric Friedlander, who heads the city’s community services agency.
But homeless advocates argue that Louisville’s booming downtown development is pushing out the most vulnerable residents. The shelters don’t have enough beds, they say, and it’s forcing the homeless to leave downtown where resources are readily available for residential neighborhoods where they’ll likely face arrest.
“There’s nothing wrong with the city trying to do well for itself, there’s nothing wrong with people trying to earn a living. But we can’t leave people behind just because money is in the equation,” said Mick Parsons, donations coordinator for Fed with Faith, a homeless outreach group that delivered more than 10,000 meals last year.
On a recent weekday, Parsons introduced himself to Peeler and Byrd, then retreated to his car. He returned with two new tents and two new blankets, and the three men embraced for a teary-eyed group hug.
The two homeless men are acutely aware that Fischer hangs his political hat on his administration being empathetic to their plight.
“Compassionate City? How can he say that when he hasn’t come out here and talked to nobody?” Peeler said. “The mayor needs to come down here and talk to us and ask us what’s going on, what’s happening and stay a night.”
‘It’s everything they own’
In the back of Wayside Christian Mission, a Louisville Metro Police officer drives slowly over gravel and through the pillars of I-65, the site of another homeless camp.
A man nestles underneath his blankets against one of the concrete columns tagged with newly red-painted “No Trespassing” signs.
Across the street, a woman covers herself head to toe under a purple blanket — directly underneath another cleanup notice posted by police. Along Jackson Street, where she rests, there are abandoned piles of cardboard, jackets, pillows and jeans.
Earlier this year, about two-dozen people living underneath Interstate 64 along the Ohio River near 12th Street were cleared out without being given enough time to collect their belongings or find another place to stay.
The move drew outrage from homeless advocates and prompted Metro Councilman Bill Hollander to propose an ordinance that codifies rules for how the city should handle homeless camps. The ordinance had its first reading last week and will be heard next by the Public Safety Committee.
“There were stories at the Portland (neighborhood) site involving people losing all their personal photographs of their families. It is their whole life, and it’s everything they own,” said Hollander, the council’s Democratic leader. “If we’re going to remove that, we have to give adequate notice, and I think it’s important that social service providers be on site to provide whatever assistance is needed.”
The measure, crafted in consultation with the Coalition for the Homeless, says the city must give a homeless camp three weeks’ notice before cleaning it up.
Hollander’s ordinance says the coalition shall be given three days’ notice so it can alert service providers, faith-based groups and other street ministries to provide help at the camp that’s set to be displaced. It also would require the city to keep any items found, such as personal identification, for at least 30 days and provide information to the homeless on where they can retrieve their belongings.
Fischer administration officials acknowledged the cleanup in the Portland neighborhood moved “too fast.” But Friedlander said there are issues with collecting and storing items from a homeless camp.
“That’s a really complex problem,” he said. “Sometimes things can have bed bugs. … But it’s the right thing to do, we need to make sure we’re doing it right.”
Advocates like Parsons said Hollander’s ordinance to protect people’s belongings is a good step but doesn’t address the lack of indoor shelter and resources. He said there are only 365 beds available across different agencies, which cannot handle a population he said is more than three times that much.
“I don’t know that it will make a difference,” Parsons said. “It doesn’t change the fact that these people have nowhere to go. Come Dec. 8, the camps that have been notified are going to get razed.”
‘The city brought this on’
Signs warn campers that they are trespassing on city- or state-owned property. But they could face other charges, including camping on public property or disorderly conduct, if they don’t leave.
While the notices posted Nov. 17 are signed by a Louisville police officer, spokesman Dwight Mitchell said the department’s role in enforcement varies.
When Louisville police take the lead, their policy is to leave the signs up for three weeks, schedule the cleanup with the city’s Public Works department, verbally notify everyone on site of the cleanup 12 hours ahead of time, and to provide security while the camp is razed.
“We give them advance notice so we give them time to relocate,” Mitchell said. The notices include a number to the Coalition for the Homeless.
He said there is also a public health concern associated with the homeless camps. He noted reports of hepatitis A outbreaks both in Louisville and nationwide as an example. In Jefferson County, 12 of 19 cases that occurred since August were found with homeless people.
Natalie Harris, executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless, said the reason people live outside varies, with some people doing so because there is no space in the shelters and others doing so as a matter of choice.
Some people stay outside because they want to drink alcohol or use drugs, actions that are not allowed in the shelters, she said. Others have mental or physical issues that prevent them from living in congregant settings.
She said that moving from outdoors to indoors is difficult for a lot of people.
“You tend to figure out what are the rules and things that allow you to succeed in that environment that you’re in,” Harris said. “What allows you to succeed in that environment is not the same as what would allow you to succeed in your own residence.”
Parsons said the rules for some shelters split up families if their children are older than 15 and that couples aren’t allowed to live together in some instances.
In Louisville, the homeless population has been decreasing as the economy has gotten better, Harris said. The homeless veteran population has decreased the most, while family homelessness has remained steady.
Resources are mostly available for homeless youths and single men, the largest populations. But overall, there are still not enough beds and resources for homeless people — the waiting list for families at the Coalition for the Homeless is 40 families long, Harris said.
She said the notices are part of a new effort to keep homeless outreach groups in the loop when the city opts to raze the camps. Those groups meet monthly.
Wendy Manganaro, board president of Fed With Faith, said another issue with the homeless camps is that when one is wiped out, another tends to sprout either in the same location or at a new one.
Manganaro said that problem stems from the fact that all resources are located downtown, and that the homeless don’t want to live too far away from there.
“The city brought this on themselves by putting all the resources in a 10-block radius,” she said.
‘We need to do better’
During the annual homeless count in January, officials found that the number of homeless people increased 39 percent from last year — but that increase was attributed to a mild day and increase in volunteers.
Friedlander, the representative from the mayor’s office, said that while there is a lot to improve on in terms of homeless resources, the number of volunteers that came out is proof that there is a base to build.
“We need to do better,” he said. “We need to address some of the underlying reasons why people are homeless..”
He said gentrification in surrounding downtown areas, which attracts more affluent residents and trendy businesses, plays a factor in getting rid of the homeless camps.
“It’s true that development puts more pressure on where available space will be,” Friedlander said. “It’s important to get people connected to the services.”
Back at the homeless camp at Jefferson and Floyd streets, Peeler and Byrd are preparing to be expelled. But the two said they’re not sure where they’re going to be in a week and are hoping homeless groups can help them with a plan.
“I’m worried because I believe that the crackdown is coming,” Peeler said. ” … They don’t want no homeless downtown — period.”
Justin Sayers: 502-582-4252; jsayers@gannett.com; Twitter: @_JustinSayers. Phillip M. Bailey: 502-582-4475; Twitter: @phillipmbailey. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/justins.
Americans are being pushed out of their homes and into the woods to die. It’s that simple.
In Palestine and Brazil they bulldoze the homes, but in America the Jews re-sell the building and just push the occupants out.
Go die in the street, and if there are too many in the street, we’ll send in the “heroes” to break some heads.
When it happens to you, don’t forget to bring your TV. You can plug it in at the base of a street light, and watch Lenny & Squiggy in the cold. Until you’re dead.
“Illegal encampments, city officials say, can be a health hazard”….
Anymore of a health hazard than when American Nationals on a grand scale will not be eating because foreign rats are being escorted here to take our jobs.
“Anything that’s done is done on a humane basis,” said Eric Friedlander, who heads the city’s community services agency. Don’t try to act like you care about anything but your paycheck!
“He said gentrification in surrounding downtown areas, which attracts more affluent residents and trendy businesses, plays a factor in getting rid of the homeless camps.”
If you trendies and affluents were carrying you wouldn’t need to be narking and complaining about the homeless. If any of them hassle you, you can protect yourself.