Atlantic Metropolis has launched a big marketing campaign to deal with its homeless problem as soon as and for all, which incorporates writing up a regulation to ban individuals from sleeping in public areas, officers mentioned.
After the Supreme Courtroom dominated that municipalities can ban homeless encampments, Mayor Marty Small mentioned he would current laws within the coming weeks to do exactly that as a part of a sweeping effort to wash up the well-known Atlantic Metropolis Boardwalk.
“We received’t ignore the problem of homelessness in our metropolis, a problem that has been lengthy neglected,” the Democrat informed The Submit.
“We can’t be a world-class vacation spot if we will’t discover a method to assist the individuals dwelling in our personal metropolis.”
Initially of July, the town rolled out its plans established by the Boardwalk Enchancment Group (BIG) to ship out staff to assist the tons of of avenue dwellers dwelling throughout Atlantic Metropolis, typically connecting them with shelters and advocacy teams.
The workers additionally assist some discover their method again house, as officers say different municipalities have been transporting their very own homeless to Atlantic Metropolis in hopes of passing on their issues.
“It’s disappointing to see, however we take care of it,” Small mentioned of the problem.
Regardless of the work being rolled out beneath the BIG plan, Jarrod Barnes, Atlantic Metropolis’s director of well being and human companies, mentioned a lot of these dwelling in encampments refuse their assist.
That’s why Barnes believes a regulation to ban the camps is critical, as it could lastly put strain residents to just accept the help they want.
“Numerous the individuals we attempt to transfer away suppose it’s superb to maintain dwelling on the road as a result of they’ve simply been doing it for therefore lengthy, and that may’t be the case,” Barnes mentioned.
“Nobody deserves to dwell on the streets,” he added. “Numerous these individuals are simply of us who’re down on their luck or individuals coping with substance abuse points.”
Small mentioned the regulation, which is being drafted with the assistance of metropolis attorneys, would stick near the parameters established by the Supreme Courtroom’s ruling in June that permits municipalities to filter encampments and set penalties for these sleeping on public streets.
Kenneth Mitchem, who was introduced on final 12 months because the director of social companies, mentioned it was crucial that the town completely crack down on homeless encampments as they current a fireplace hazard beneath the town’s well-known Boardwalk.
Again in April, a 67-year-old man dwelling within the encampments beneath the Boardwalk died after a fireplace broke out, with the blaze spreading to companies above.
Metropolis officers warned that such a calamity might very nicely occur once more, particularly given the ingenuity of among the individuals dwelling beneath the Boardwalk.
“We had one man who was capable of arrange circuits to energy a multi-bedroom house constructed beneath the boardwalk,” Barnes mentioned.
“One other man was capable of faucet into the beer strains at one of many casinos and acquired himself free drinks,” Small added. “It was actually a bit spectacular, and we even tried providing him a job at Public Works.”
Together with the hearth hazard, Mitchem mentioned that the encampments also can result in different well being dangers.
“We have now one encampment that was by the seashore the place their trash and particles would go to the seashore and the water,” Mitchem mentioned. “Now that’s an issue.”
The Supreme Courtroom ruling is just not with out its detractors, with Jesse Rabinowitz, the communications and marketing campaign director on the Nationwide Homelessness Legislation Heart, expressing worries that cities will use the ruling to arrest homeless individuals as the first resolution to the problem.
Whereas Small didn’t elaborate additional on what precisely Atlantic Metropolis’s new regulation would entail, he mentioned the main points can be obtainable as soon as it’s offered someday in August or September.
“We anticipate to get some pushback, it all the time comes, however as mayor, I’ll see this imaginative and prescient via,” he mentioned.
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