Homeless population continues to grow
Residents, business owners complain to city commission about lack of laws, safety problem
By Adrienne Sakyi
There are over 900 homeless individuals in St. Johns County at any given time. The homeless population has been a controversial subject for years in St. Augustine with the debate swirling around the only shelter in the county – the St. Francis House. Concerns about safety and tourism have students, organizations and city officials considering different options for meeting the tremendous need.
The city is entertaining a wide range of solutions to the increasing needs of the homeless population. According to Paul Williamson, director of public affairs for the City of St. Augustine, there has been a “real resurgence recently in homeless population.” Williamson said business owners, residents and tourists have e-mailed the city commenting on the increasing presence of homeless individuals.
According to Sgt. Barry Fox, Public Information Officer for the City of St. Augustine Police Department, unless the city commission passes a new ordinance, the homeless individuals on St. George Street and in the plaza are not committing any crimes.
“We can only enforce things that are violations of laws,” Fox said. “Being homeless is not a crime.”
Some local businesses say the police should monitor the shelter better.
“The shelter is trying to meet a major need in our community, but I do feel like police presence could be stepped up,” Teresa Segal, manager of Absolute Americana Art Gallery said.
Organizations like the Lincolnville Neighborhood Association, Greater St. Mary’s Missionary Baptist Church and the Lincolnville Crime Watch are constantly lobbying to move the shelter.
In a letter to the members of the city and county commission, Pastor Byron Hodges of Greater St. Mary’s Missionary Baptist Church said, “The whole community is tired of people trashing, urinating and defacating on our properties and in our faces. This says nothing of the people sleeping and loitering all up and down the sidewalks.”
Employees at the St. Francis House claim that the real complaint from opponents of the shelter is the presence of homeless individuals in general.
“It’s the fact that there are homeless people in their community,” Pierre Ward, client service coordinator at the St. Francis House, said. “Whether they’re doing anything to the people’s property or not, they’re complaining about the homeless society.”
Lincolnville residents have linked recent crimes like the murder of Thomas Graber to the shelter because the arrested individuals had no known address. Segal said the suspects in the murder ate meals at the shelter and were living in their car on Washington Street. Residents said the individuals were familiar faces in the neighborhood. As a result, safety concerns have been raised by organizations, businesses and students even though police officials insist that the suspects were not homeless or residents of the shelter. “In our definition of homeless, the suspects were not homeless,” Fox said.
Senior sport management major Leigha McDonough works at Sangrias on St. George Street. McDonough recognizes the safety concerns created by a large homeless population. “I think having the shelter downtown is a good thing for the homeless, but I feel a certain nervousness walking through downtown at night by myself,” she said.
Other students like sophomore philosophy major Scott Bufis live in Lincolnville and insist there is no safety concern. “It’s a normal neighborhood,” Bufis said. I don’t think it’s dangerous.”
Many Flagler College students, faculty and employees have expressed their support of the shelter through volunteering at the shelter. Junior elementary education major Chris Bacca helped start Flagler Feeds, which is a partnership between Flagler College clubs and local charitable organizations including the St. Francis House.
“As students we live in such a bubble on campus that we don’t realize that outside of our gates there are people that are starving,” Bacca said. “That’s why Flagler Feeds is an important community service activity.”
Bacca acknowledges the safety risks working with the homeless population at the shelter, but says there have been no safety problems with Flagler Feeds at the shelter.
“Safety was a concern when we did Flagler Feeds for the first time in March,” he said. “There are homeless people who are aggressive – no one is saying there isn’t, but it’s an isolated few.”
Junior English major Wayne Beck, who volunteered with Phi Alpha Delta this semester, agrees.
“I don’t feel threatened by the shelter,” he said. “It’s a good way to have a direct impact on people’s lives.”
Currently the city commission has not made any decisions about ordinances, relocation of the shelter or any other definite course of action for addressing the homeless population situation downtown.
St. Augustine, FL
Thank you for bringing attention to this important social problem and it’s effects on the downtown community of residents as well as merchants.
To not be anonymous anymore, since that pegs me as a coward in some people’s minds, wolfgang is Brett, graduated in 04.
Now, I agree with Dan, I remember watching buskers (I learned something new today) hauled off to jail and thinking, WTF? Isn’t this America? I would literally see bumbs walking by the cops as they hauled off jugglers or singers for the heinous crime of, what . . . entertaining people?
When I was in Drama we had to do a mime act in front of the shops downtown, would they have arrested me? Hardly.
I have always been annoyed at bumbs ever since I was working at my first job as a bagboy and listened to two “bumbs” talk about how well they were living, tax free, job free, off of us rubes. Being a stockboy, sometimes you were invisible, and people said all sorts of crap around us that I assume they thought we didn’t hear or didn’t care one way or another. Anyway, I turned to them and told them from that day on, their kind would get no more charity from me – and they haven’t since.
What kind of society are we cultivating when we punish street performers for at least providing some semblance of entertainment versus a nasty bumb who has nothing to offer society but an empty mouth to feed?
I know this is an old article but I just got on so hopefully someone will read this. Ms. Holland states that these people are begging for change for the $5 dollar per night charge at SFH…sorry that’s wrong. It’s for them to buy $2 packs of cigarettes and most of them stay at hotels such as the Scottish Inn on the Island…trust me I call the a cab for at least 3 different people a day at my job downtown to take them there.
What really ticks me off is the fact that almost 10 years ago this great and fair city did away with street performers, street performers that add to a city and not detract, because they were “taking money from the businesses”. And too many people claimed to be “preforming” while just sitting around panhandling. Now the great street performers are gone and all we are left with is the worthless beggers. One of the biggest proponets for this action was the gentleman who owned the Kite Shop, unfortunatly too many beggers and performers must have been around town because he is now closed up and moved out. I think we need to look to cities like Key West and San Fran and see what type of impact buskers (street performers) have on the economy. Because I do believe there was a study that actually stated they enhanced it. Also it would help drive away these bums becuase I know I would much rather throw a guy some cash if he is juggling, or a one man band, than some jackass sitting on a bench that our tax money paid for with a sign that says “Parents killed by Drunken Ninja need money for martial arts training”. If you got enough brains for that get off your ass and do something productive.
I was a street performer in the Key’s for 3 summers and pulled in around $1000 a week in the off season. That is more money than most Flagler Grads make in their first few years out of school. Trust me. Also the business people actually liked the performers. Seeing that a crowd in front of a shop is more than likely going to influence people to walk into that shop.
Well it’s late gotta run hopefully someone reads this
Being homeless is not a crime, but from the homeless come a number of petty and sometimes not so petty crimes. Many of the “homeless” are homeless by choice. I don’t beleive we should make St Augustine the “Happy Place for the Homeless”, nor should we get rid of them. For after all they are Amercians, and as Americans they are entitled to work, work for their shelter, work for their food, and work for the creature comforts of life. Only children, and few of them these days, have the right not to be laboured with the responsibilities of work.
There are potholes to fix, trash to be collected, and above all taxes to paid, just like every other citizen in America. Even the most wealthy people work at something. And so too should the homeless be put to work, it’s their right.
Let’s face it the homeless are here to stay, and their numbers may increase, however, the rules for people to live in a given area are governed by the majority.
If you really want to do something about the homeless — boycott downtown St Augustine and help throw a $40 milion a year gem in the trash, and maybe the town council will begin to wake up!
Put these petty criminals to work!!!!!!
The homeless problem is not just a City problem or Police Department problem, it is a county wide problem. Every homeless person in St. Johns County is brought into the city because there is only one place for them to get help. It will take time to fix. Thank you to the PD for seeing through all the complaints and handling the situation wisely.
The error to this story has been fixed. The complete story is above. We apologize for any inconvenience.
The Gargoyle staff
I just realized looking over this article that, during the post to the Web, a section of the text wasn’t completely carried over for whatever reason (between “Some local businesses…” and “…concerns have been raised.)
We’ll get the full text of the article up and fix this ASAP, but for now, I recommend reading Adrienne’s full article in the print edition. Sorry for the error, but these things happen sometimes during the upload.
This time of year it is almost inevitable to read homelessness pieces in the news. I have been surprised lately by the number of articles that take an extreme point of view with this matter portraying any homeless person as a possible threat and a panhandling public defecater.
Yes, homelessness in northeast Florida is a debateable problem in need of a long term solution. The debate should not be “swirling” around the St. Francis House, in that it is THE ONLY short term solution available right now… at least for St. Augustine.
For a video biography project in Mass Media Production class I and another student chose a SFH tenent as our subject. I walked away from my experience at the SFH with homelessness weighing on my mind more than I expected it to.
To relate this charitable organization to an unthinkable recent murder in our community commited by wanderers, simply because the criminals took advantage of a free hot meal offered by the SFH, is outrageous.
I give kudos to the SFH for working for humanity; for realizing that homeless people are people too, for never taking a day off and for taking action when county officials seem to be shuffling papers waiting for the problem to go away.
If you had no money, no home, no family, couldn’t work because of health, and had to pay $5.00 a night to SFH to sleep in one of the only 29 beds offered to the homeless from Jacksonville to Daytona, you might be on St. George Street asking tourists for nickels too.
go to http://www.stfrancisshelter.org and think before you think.
Below is my letter that was published on novemeber 14th in the Record. It sums up how I feel about the homelessness and poverty.
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Editor: When I see what is being written about those that have no home in St. Augustine, it makes me cringe. From what I have read, I am led to believe that feeding people causes laziness among those that eat food.
Although I am very aware of the “bootstraps” versus “bleeding heart” argument, I still cannot see how one can lay blame on those who do SOMETHING! Unlike many other things now days, Food Not Bombs (FNB) does not try to sell anything, make money, to convert you. FNB is a committed group of people who are dedicated to positive actions through direct action.
What does it say about St. Augustine as a community when we treat people who need help along with those that attempt to help with hostility? Are we that selfish?
Some might view homeless population as a lesser people. Although this attitude is advanced and accepted by many who are ignorant or simple minded, the truth is that the causes and effects of poverty are evident everywhere in the world as well as in America. And while I am not writing this to debate the complexities of the “what’s” and “whys” of homelessness in America, I feel it is necessary to acknowledge that poverty is caused by more than just laziness. Such a shallow belief does nothing but segregate us even further from the realities that could lead us to fair and equitable solutions.
By closing our eyes and hanging on to our apathy, residents as well as businesses will only be cultivating the problem instead of fixing it. While FNB does not pretend to be the solution, it is providing a service to those who might go hungry if people were not there to help. Is this not a part of a solution?
I would also like to add that it would be great if more people did more downtown. Let’s take back our plazas, parks, streets, sidewalks, and corners and use them as our community centers once again. This is the way it was before shopping malls and cable TV became our daily life. The plaza is an open public space. Everybody has the right to be there. Feeding people is not a crime. Everyone has the right to food.
We must remember that the constitution serves as protection of and for the minority from the majority. People with less money still have rights. Those of us with no businesses downtown have rights. We believe that these rights should trump a tourist’s displeasure with having to see homeless people. If you are offended by poverty, like I am, then get up and do something about it. Hiding it will not make anything better.
My grandfather, George Hamilton, was one of the founders of the St. Francis House. He was a man of action and service to his community. I often wonder what he might say to our city and county leaders about what is going on now in St. Augustine. I don’t think he would see it in terms of whose problem it is. I think he would start to fashion a solution. Look at what he accomplished, who it impacted, and the difference it made in people’s lives.
Yes, solutions to complex problems might be hard and slow going, but the rewards for the hard work means that St. Augustine will not be poor in virtue. If you don’t think that matters now, try buying it with your money later.
Yours truly,
Aubrey Skillman
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I don’t mind using my name because I am not scared of how I feel. If people really believe something, then they should stand behind their statements too. I hope this brings some clarity to the issue or at least a different angle on how many people, including many reading this right now, feel. Thank you.
Maybe I am nuts, but if you keep making it attractive for homeless people to populate the streets of Saint Augustine, that is precisely what they will do.
I subscribe to the whole Reagan/Jesus thing too much I guess, teach a man to fish . . .
Maybe a creative a solution would be homeless street cleaners or something akin to that. Making them apply to be homeless as in Ohio is flat out dumb, but instead of just rounding them up and driving them to a shelter or past the city limits, or whatever it is they do with them, I say put them to work. Round them up, make them work, then feed them, there are plenty of potholes in Saint Augustine.
And, yes, I agree with Jared, solicitation is a crime, make them work it off says I.
I have no problem with a few people who are down on their luck and have to sleep in a public place. I do, however, have a problem with the “gentleman” I disturbed last week “doing his business” in a public place.
I was simply walking to work and came upon this man with his pants down and toilet paper in hand. He has rights, but so do I. And I’d prefer that he didn’t violate mine. There are public restrooms in St. Augustine.
yah it’s sort of like ‘skateboarding is not a crime’ t-shirts when trespassing is… which is the point of stores getting upset when people do that, not ‘The Man’ trying to be a partypooper to someone’s fun
if the homeless were just existing that’d be fine. It’s what some even though its a small percentage do while they exist that people are having a problem with
Being homeless is not a crime. Unfortunately, harrassment and solicitation are. It’d be nice to live in a place where three to five times a week you didn’t have people screaming at for money, following you around, or keeping you from getting where you need to go. I can get over it personally, but I empathize with the business owners.
No one is againt helping people. Everyone needs help sometimes. But let’s not play extremes and pretend that finding obtrusive people unobtrusive makes you a bad person. That’s overly PC and sad.