Downtown Vagrancy - On the rise?

[carltonplace]

Touchy topic.
va-grant [vey-gruh nt]
noun: a person who wanders about idly and has no permanent home or employment; vagabond; tramp.


There is clearly something driving an increase in idle people loitering in and around downtown this summer. The QT at 15th and Denver was compelled by local authorities to remove the tables in front of the store and thankfully they complied.

Personally I've seen more and more people hanging out in empty lots, behind buildings, in the park at Denver and 7th, Centennial Park at Boston and 7th, or just wandering around. 

I've also seen an increase in homeless people in the area (the folks with their belongings with them in carts or baggage)
We've discussed the problem before many years ago:
http://www.tulsanow.org/forum/index.php?topic=6858.msg31056#msg31056


I wonder what is driving this? I have a lot of sympathy for people that are down on their luck or especially for people with untreated mental issues that drive them to the fringes of society. Unfortunately there are also people in this group that either have substance abuse problems or choose not to provide for themselves.

Anecdotally I was told by a police officer that several of the suburbs bring their transient population to downtown...I cannot confirm the veracity of this assertion. I've also been told that Iron Gate is moving out of downtown. For those that aren't familiar, Iron Gate serves around 900 free meals every day in downtown. 

San Antonio has recently tackled a similar problem with some create sollutions.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/08/19/338895262/mental-health-cops-help-reweave-social-safety-net-in-san-antonio

A couple of highlights:

*They created a mental health squad in their police force 
*They sent the entire police force through crisis intervention training
*Opened a restoration center to divert those with mental illness out of the penal system and into a place where they can get assistance

This part of the story really jumped out at me:

The center was the brainchild of Leon Evans, director of San Antonio's mental health department.

When he took over the department 14 years ago, Evans says not one of the county or city agencies and nonprofits that deal with mental illness was talking to another. The jails, hospitals, courts, police and mental health department all worked in separate silos.

"People who fund these services only look at their little, small piece of the pie and whether there is a return on investment," says Evans.

So, with the help of a county judge, Evans worked to get the funders together to talk about the money they were all spending on mental health. Once they stopped looking at mental health as an isolated expense, the groups realized they were spending enormous sums of money and offering poor care. Pooling their resources instead, they found, could offer significant savings.

Everyone contributed funding to create the Restoration Center. It offers a 48-hour inpatient psychiatric unit; outpatient services for psychiatric and primary care; centers for drug or alcohol detox; a 90-day recovery program for substance abuse; plus housing for people with mental illnesses, and even job training.


What can we do to stem the tide here?
What can we do to care for people in their home community?
Should Downtown be a dumping ground for the county's unwanted humans?
How do we train Tulsans not to give handouts to grifters?
How can we care for the people that really need our help?

[rdj]

...

I've also been told that Iron Gate is moving out of downtown. For those that aren't familiar, Iron Gate serves around 900 free meals every day in downtown. 

...

Iron Gate is looking at options as they've outgrown the space in the current church facility.  They are looking at options in and around downtown.  From my understand they ultimately want to stay downtown as that is where the majority of their clients are located.  That doesn't just mean homeless or transient, they also serve downtown workers who are in a tough spot.  Most of the downtown stakeholders are aware of their situation and some are working to help.  It will be interesting to see where they end up.

[Conan71]

I was curious about the recent uptick myself.  I wasn't sure if more people were busing in here from other parts of the country since we have a low u/e rate or what was going on.

The mental health issue is our chickens coming home to roost since it was decided segregating them from society in mental health facilities was cruel and or unfair.  While it's a noble idea homelessness, chronic substance abuse, and violent crime has been the result.  Many are people who might otherwise thrive in a structured environment with supervision.

[TheArtist]

What is odd is that it seems to have happened in just a matter of weeks, at least in the park in front of DECOPOLIS.  Occasionally you might see 3 or 4 here and there.  But just a short time ago you started seeing a whole different "crowd" with 20-30 people, and a lot of them younger.  It's when you get that crowd that they start making a mess with litter (even though there are trash cans readily available) and getting into arguments and fights.  These aren't people who are "down on their luck" or who have had some financial hardship, these are people who have drug abuse and or mental problems.

[YoungTulsan]

If you mean in recent years, that is a trend.

If you mean in recent months, that is called the weather.  People stay out on the streets when it is warm.

[guido911]

Downtown development is paying off! You invest in the area, that's where people are heading.

http://southpark.cc.com/clips/155590/i-dont-have-change

[davideinstein]

It has gotten much, much worse in the past couple of months. We have a lot of problems with them around the store compared to when we first opened.

Also, I dropped by our Downtown store on Sunday night. It was dark (no street lights at all) and a tourist came in and said it was outright creepy. We're not going anywhere, our store does awesome, but people better start caring about the image Downtown is getting our it won't ever be the attraction we want it to be.

[davideinstein]

If you mean in recent years, that is a trend.

If you mean in recent months, that is called the weather.  People stay out on the streets when it is warm.

It was not this bad last year.

[davideinstein]

What is odd is that it seems to have happened in just a matter of weeks, at least in the park in front of DECOPOLIS.  Occasionally you might see 3 or 4 here and there.  But just a short time ago you started seeing a whole different "crowd" with 20-30 people, and a lot of them younger.  It's when you get that crowd that they start making a mess with litter (even though there are trash cans readily available) and getting into arguments and fights.  These aren't people who are "down on their luck" or who have had some financial hardship, these are people who have drug abuse and or mental problems.

And/or are complete thugs. But they get kicked out of the park they just linger in other areas.

[SXSW]

I haven't really noticed any more than usual downtown but maybe I've been in the wrong places.  Sounds like they are more concentrated around the parks.  I have though noticed more homeless in recent trips to the downtowns in OKC and Denver.  Maybe it's a nationwide trend?

[sgrizzle]

My office is across from Iron Gate. That place is packed on a regular basis these days. I did see a couple of weeks ago that animal control was parking there at breakfast time to pick up the unleashed dogs.

The SW corner of 6th and Cincinatti had a pedestrian area (bus stop maybe) that was recently ripped out. It seemed to attract some interesting crowds.

I hate to bring up "quality vs quantity" but I've noticed with the increase in traffic, I have seen a lot more problems. I walked around a man who was sitting on the ground peeing on himself. Saw someone else having seizures, possibly due to dehydration or detox. Saw a woman who seemed to be wearing nothing but an ill-fitting dress who seemed to be offering services to passersby.

Quite colorful crowds.

[Townsend]

I noticed a large crowd by the Librarium today.

Saw a hooker and her pimp proposition a guy in a car on his way out of DT on Cincinnati at rush hour last Friday.

Big groups gather at the concrete park on 7th.

[Conan71]

My office is across from Iron Gate. That place is packed on a regular basis these days. I did see a couple of weeks ago that animal control was parking there at breakfast time to pick up the unleashed dogs.

The SW corner of 6th and Cincinatti had a pedestrian area (bus stop maybe) that was recently ripped out. It seemed to attract some interesting crowds.

I hate to bring up "quality vs quantity" but I've noticed with the increase in traffic, I have seen a lot more problems. I walked around a man who was sitting on the ground peeing on himself. Saw someone else having seizures, possibly due to dehydration or detox. Saw a woman who seemed to be wearing nothing but an ill-fitting dress who seemed to be offering services to passersby.

Quite colorful crowds.

Surely you thought to call EMS for the guy having seizures, right?

[Gaspar]

I noticed a large crowd by the Librarium today.

Saw a hooker and her pimp proposition a guy in a car on his way out of DT on Cincinnati at rush hour last Friday.

Big groups gather at the concrete park on 7th.

Seen the same.  Lots of "entrepreneurs" working in broad daylight. Also at the apartment building parking lot across the street.

[carltonplace]

I know the weather is a contributing factor, but something else is going on. I highly doubt that all of these people are Tulsa natives, as Conan mentioned our UER is fairly low and mortgage defaults are not unusually high.