Homeless Plan in Columbia

[krazeeboi]

The State reports that a meeting will be held this Wednesday in an effort to reduce homelessness in the Midlands.

The blueprint includes plans to:

[Spartan]

If it gets the off the street and doing something productive, then I say go for it. Particularly the housing for WORKING homeless people. If they are willing to work to better themselves and their condition then I have no issue with spending tax dollars or any other money on them.

[Matt83USC]

If it gets the off the street and doing something productive, then I say go for it. Particularly the housing for WORKING homeless people. If they are willing to work to better themselves and their condition then I have no issue with spending tax dollars or any other money on them.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

and as for the non-working homeless...I'd be more than happy to buy them each a one-way bus ticket to greenville.

[krazeeboi]

Looks like some progress is being made here. Lexington County is the lone holdout, and I hope they come through. The city of Columbia and Richland County have pledged $100,000 each to fund a commission that will oversee the center. The agreement between the governments is contingent on all three committing money.

I surely hope the general viewpoint of Lexington County officials and residents is "Why should we fund this, when homeless is really a downtown Columbia issue?" It seems Lexington can be kind of iffy. We've yet to hear anything about them on the CMRTA plan (or the city of Columbia for that matter), and now they seem reluctant to jump on board here.

[emerging.me]

So they are looking at using a former SC Dept. of Mental Health facility as a temporary base?? I guess that goes to show you how far we are from the Bull Street 'hood getting off the ground. And they're going to announce a site choice for the combined facility in the next 15 days or so. I'm anxious to see where they want to put it and what the community reaction will be.

[krazeeboi]

Well, you know what the community reaction will be against this LULU (locally undesireable land use)--NOT IN MY BACK YARD!!!!!

And I wonder how long is "temporary"?

[Spartan]

Yeah, that remark was unwarranted. But the comment was made almost a full year ago; we should be well past that now.

Indeed.

This is a bit concerning, but not unexpected for Lexington. Lexington county exists in an interesting dichotomy... its western portions beung extremely rural and uninterested in the affairs of the city, and its eastern portion extending into the heard of urban Columbia. On the surface I could understand Lexington's desire to no take part in this study, but given the fact that most of the population lives in the eastern portion, I'd like to think that they will participate.

[GamecockEngineer]

I may be recalling an old or unrelated plan, as reading these articles didn't indicate a specific site of the shelter, but wasn't there talk of building it on Bluff Road, not far from Williams-Brice? I would surely hope that that location has since been eleminated. I feel bad saying this, as it is motivated mostly due to tailgaiting, but adding that sort of dimension to the atmosphere could really create some problems 7 or 8 times a year. Not to mention every night of the State Fair.

[krazeeboi]

For one thing, it's got to be within reasonable distance of downtown, and being that south of downtown (S. Assembly/Bluff Rd. area) is the most underdeveloped, it will probably be going in that general area.

[BryCola]

I may be recalling an old or unrelated plan, as reading these articles didn't indicate a specific site of the shelter, but wasn't there talk of building it on Bluff Road, not far from Williams-Brice? I would surely hope that that location has since been eleminated. I feel bad saying this, as it is motivated mostly due to tailgaiting, but adding that sort of dimension to the atmosphere could really create some problems 7 or 8 times a year. Not to mention every night of the State Fair.

That plan was completely scrapped about a year or two ago. Too many people complained about the location.

[GamecockEngineer]

That plan was completely scrapped about a year or two ago. Too many people complained about the location.

Thanks! I keep trying to think of a good location, but all that comes to mind in Sumter near Elmwood. With the Salvation Army also in that area, it makes since to me.

[krazeeboi]

I doubt it; that's too close to the Bull Street campus.

[Spartan]

The truth is that Bluff or Shop Rd may have been the best place for it. This thing has to go somewhere.

[emerging.me]

I doubt it; that's too close to the Bull Street campus.

Yeah, I really feel they will move it away from North Main and the Bull Street campus. The Salvation Army has been a mental roadblock to redevelopment in that area for years. I doubt they will punk out and try to stick it outside of the city like the Shop Rd. thing again, but I do believe that one of the non-stated goals is -- whether this is right or not -- to move the homeless away from the riverfront/Vista and the Main Street corridor. It's a tough call to make. The hard truth is that where ever this thing goes, it's going to suck the redevelopment life out of the immediate area. I do not believe it has to be that way, but I think with the mindset of many people in this area, it's the reality.

[GamecockEngineer]

I may regret asking this question, but why are there so many homeless in Columbia? I haven't noticed half as many in Charlotte. It may be due to the face I havent been in Charlotte long, but just driving through main corridors in Columbia, you notice an abundance.

I don't know any statistics, but the only city I've been to that has, on the surface anyways, more of a homeless presence than Columbia, is Knoxville. And Knoxville seemed much worse to me. I've also heard that from a few people I know who live in Knoxville.

[waccamatt]

I may regret asking this question, but why are there so many homeless in Columbia? I haven't noticed half as many in Charlotte. It may be due to the face I havent been in Charlotte long, but just driving through main corridors in Columbia, you notice an abundance.

I don't know any statistics, but the only city I've been to that has, on the surface anyways, more of a homeless presence than Columbia, is Knoxville. And Knoxville seemed much worse to me. I've also heard that from a few people I know who live in Knoxville.

South Carolina is a very poor state and Columbia is the largest city. The homeless tend to migrate towards the larger cities and they also tend to be former mental hospital patients; guess what's in Columbia?

[krazeeboi]

I may regret asking this question, but why are there so many homeless in Columbia? I haven't noticed half as many in Charlotte. It may be due to the face I havent been in Charlotte long, but just driving through main corridors in Columbia, you notice an abundance.

I don't know any statistics, but the only city I've been to that has, on the surface anyways, more of a homeless presence than Columbia, is Knoxville. And Knoxville seemed much worse to me. I've also heard that from a few people I know who live in Knoxville.

You just haven't been in Charlotte long enough. The homeless folks in Charlotte also tend to be more visible at night when the general crowd has dispersed. Take a trip up N. Tryon sometime at night past I-277 and I'm sure your perception will change.

[BryCola]

I may regret asking this question, but why are there so many homeless in Columbia? I haven't noticed half as many in Charlotte. It may be due to the face I havent been in Charlotte long, but just driving through main corridors in Columbia, you notice an abundance.

I don't know any statistics, but the only city I've been to that has, on the surface anyways, more of a homeless presence than Columbia, is Knoxville. And Knoxville seemed much worse to me. I've also heard that from a few people I know who live in Knoxville.

I may be mistaken, but I think the main reason we have so many homeless is because of Oliver Gospel Mission...they actually SHIP them here. I read an article about them not too long ago, and they bring homeless from all over SC, and some from neighboring states to try to preach to them about religion and give them some job skills. I applaud their effort, but sure would like to see that place moved.

[GamecockEngineer]

I have a very hard time keeping an unbiased opinion regarding the homeless. If they actually do SHIP homeless people to Columbia because of the Oliver Gospel Mission, the residence of Columbia should do something about it. While I know that there are some homeless out there who are truely looking for work and improving their situation, most are not. Most want anything they can get with NO EFFORT at all.

I had so many things stolen from my old house near 5 points (and I lived on the good side, up saluda). They would just walk up into the carport and rummage through whatever was in there. They would always check the cars at my house to see if the doors were unlocked. During the ice storm a few winters ago, I caught one entering my house at 1 in the morning when the power was out.

My roomates and I actually befriended a homeless guy.. Charles. We'd see him out in 5pts a lot of the times we went out. He bagan to recognize us and our cars. He would always try to wash our cars for a few bucks. Eventually, he realized that we live near 5pts, and he would come to our house to wash the cars, and he'd hang around and talk. To make a long story somewhat sort, after a few months of us giving him odd jobs we needed done, he stole my roomates credit card. First stop, Food Lion for a carton of Newports and case of beer. Then he proceeded to rack up charges of over $400 at gas stations from 5pts out Two Notch. Fraud Protection cut the card off after the 5 or 6 gas station charge in a few hours. We looked at the Food Lion survelance camera to determine it was Charles. The police issued an arrest warent for him, but he was never arrested. He came by our house 2 days later and denied everything, until we told him about the tape. He never came by our house again.

I guess I shared this story to show why I have no patients or pitty for the homeless, most of them anyway.

[BrasilnSC]

I may be mistaken, but I think the main reason we have so many homeless is because of Oliver Gospel Mission...they actually SHIP them here. I read an article about them not too long ago, and they bring homeless from all over SC, and some from neighboring states to try to preach to them about religion and give them some job skills. I applaud their effort, but sure would like to see that place moved.

If this is true, why is Oliver Gospel shipping the homeless from other areas to Columbia when we already have a huge problem? I'm all for helping the homeless, but aren't they making things worse for the them, more homeless equals less space and opportunities. Other communities should be able to absorb and take care of them.

[krazeeboi]

Yeah, I really do think the mission needs to be moved out of downtown, possibly even merged with the one-stop homeless facility the city is setting up (although I doubt that will happen).

GE, sorry for your bad experiences.

[CorgiMatt]

Yeah, I really do think the mission needs to be moved out of downtown, possibly even merged with the one-stop homeless facility the city is setting up (although I doubt that will happen).

GE, sorry for your bad experiences.

In the meantime, they have just put a brand new face on a two-story building behind their main building and have just put in new replacement windows on the ground floor of the tiny two-story building that is connected to the main building. Taylor Street along there looks much better for it. The two-story building that isn't connected is going to be their new administration building, thus freeing up more space for boarders.

[krazeeboi]

OK, I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not...

[BryCola]

OK, I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not...

Well I'm sure...and it's NOT a good thing. I thought there were still discussions in the works to get that eyesore out of downtown. (And whether I'm being heartless or not is a discussion for another thread) I can't stand seeing a group of homeless people standing outside our beautiful downtown library waiting for it to open so they can go in. Or sleeping on all of the nice benches that were part of the recent Main Street "streetscaping" keeping regular pedestrians for using the benches. Or keeping people away from the nice parks we have downtown because these people are peeing out in the open. I realize they need to go somewhere, and some of them truly need help...but having them right downtown is hurting the city. That's the bottom line. And with them spending this money on renovation, it appears they have no plan to leave downtown anytime soon. This is kind of a sore spot with me...downtown Columbia is becoming an awesome place, but there are things like this holding us back.

[krazeeboi]

Bry, I actually agree with you. I don't think it's being heartless at all. There's a proper place for everything, and I don't think downtown is for the mission.