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Real estate agent and local business owner Jordan Pope told Tifton City Council at its meeting Monday that the homeless problem in Tifton has gotten out of control and needs to be addressed before it gets worse.
“The homeless community has made it known that Tifton has made it comfortable for them to live here,” Pope said. “It’s only a matter of time before we’re not the Reading Capital of the World – we’re the Homeless Capital of the World. I don’t want to be a part of that. I want my kids to be able to ride down the street and not get snagged.
“I’m not against homeless people and their rights,” Pope said. “What we’re against is the continuous problem they create, which is a mess everywhere they go. They don’t clean up after themselves."
Referring to the Tifton Street Outreach nonprofit group, Pope said he loves “seeing people go out on Sunday and feed these people. They’re offering portable showers. That’s great, but that’s Sunday.”
On other days, Pope said, the homeless are stealing and causing problems. He said Tifton has always thrived on its first impression. Travelers stopping to eat and walking their dogs on the grass behind a restaurant on Highway 82 are met with homeless people asking for money, he said.
“We don’t know what they would do to get a fix. ... I’ve heard of so many people not stopping here anymore."
Pope said the Greyhound bus station is dropping off a busload of homeless people a day. “If we don’t stop and do something about it, it’s going to snowball."
Councilman Lester Cromer Jr. said it is “everybody’s problem at this point.” But he said that people have a right to travel where they want to. “We’re dealing with human rights. Deterrent is only one solution. It’s going to take everyone, a community forum.”
Mayor Julie B. Smith said that City Council has formed a committee with Councilmen M.J. Hall and Josh Reynolds to work on the homeless issue.
“This is not a local problem; it’s a national epidemic,” she said. She recently returned from a meeting of the National League of Cities where homelessness was the top topic.
“We have to be careful not to overstep their rights. We do work at this every day. Everybody, according to the Constitution, has a right to exist. We hear your message, but we are very limited,” Smith said.
“We need to help them, to lift them up so they can move on with their lives in a positive way. But if we do that, there’s going to be more, and that’s expensive. Who’s going to pay for that?”
State Senate Bill 62 that just passed prohibits a city or county from not enforcing their laws on the homeless, City Attorney Rob Wilmot said. Tifton laws address loitering on public property and blocking sidewalks, he said.
Mayor Smith suggested Pope take his concerns to the Tift County Commission. “It has to be a joint effort of city and county, then state and federal,” she said. The property referenced behind a Highway 82 restaurant is in the county, she said.
Pope said the City of Valdosta believes the only solution is keeping the homeless uncomfortable.
City Councilman M.J. Hall said said police officers and fire department personnel have referrals to resources to hand out to homeless people they encounter. He said it has to be handled with decency.
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“We’re not going to just go and run people away,” Hall said. “We’re not going to haul them off outside of town because then the beautiful light of the City of Tifton that we’ve all been talking about is just going to be darkness just because we have some homeless people that we want to get out of the way.”
Hall said homeless people lay on the bench in front of his property. He asks them, “'What do you need to keep moving on?' It’s hard, but every day I wake up I know I could be right there on that bench.”
The mayor added: “We have lots more conversations to have, lots more work to do.”
The Tifton Street Outreach organization has been providing about 25 meals to homeless people every Sunday at the TitleMax building on U.S. Highway 82. Renee Cannady, one of the organization’s founders, told the Tifton Grapevine that
“Mr. Pope and his friends are not very informed on the homeless community here in Tifton.
“Most of them have not been dropped off here by Greyhound. Yes, some are veterans, some have mental illnesses, and others are drug addicts. Most of them are lifelong residents of Tifton, and they have families here, families whom have exhausted all resources trying to get their loved ones help."
Cannady said that Tifton Street Outreach not only feeds the homeless on Sundays, but offers them resources to help get back on track and off the streets.
"We run 100% off donations from very caring and dedicated citizens of our community. Our goal is to get them off the streets, let them know people care about them, and there is hope for them. Kicking them while they're down is not a solution,” she said.
"Announcing where their camps are puts them in danger. Last but not least, we have a lot of women on our team, and not one of us has ever feared for our lives while serving our homeless community.”
Cannady said council members and local residents are welcome to “join one of our feeds to see what we do and get to know these displaced members of their community. Then maybe they wouldn't be so fearful and judgmental of them.”
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