How are you torn on this, you stated yourself that he’s not bothering anyone and he’s attempting to keep his area tidy. I guarantee you that he does not want to be living there anymore than you do, but it’s most likely the safest option he believes is available to him. Asking the cops to “rustle him out” is only going to put him in more danger and make his situation worse.
If you really feel the need to “report him”, maybe consider reaching out to advocacy/support groups to see what services might be available to him. Providing support and treating him like a human are much more likely to actually solve the problem. Your solution would just hide it from your view while endangering him further.
Because in the past when I’ve lived in places that have had this happen, the situation grows rapidly and the park near my house became unusable for the neighborhood. If I start to see this trending in that direction, I will absolutely be contacting the City Councilor as well as the police to prevent it from escalating. I’m not willing to have my neighborhood get turned into an encampment, and if you think i’m a bastard for that, I’m fine with that.
I work with a homeless shelter in town, they are aware of his location- I saw him up on their board the last time I was there. That means he’s been offered assistance and has declined it. That is often because of drug usage issues, even though this shelter doesn’t require you to be sober to use it.
I’d written a longer response to your post earlier but it seems to not have actually posted. I’ll try and summarize what I had initially written.
I don’t think you’re a bastard at all. If anything you seem to be the only one coming down on yourself and others throughout all of the responses here. I simply think that this is a complex issue and those often don’t have a simple solution. That being said, our current approach to the problem has led us to where we are today, continuing on that path won’t suddenly solve it.
I don’t think anyone would argue with you about not wanting an encampment in their local park but that’s also not the scenario you initially described so that might be why you feel people are reacting differently than you expected.
How are you torn on this, you stated yourself that he’s not bothering anyone and he’s attempting to keep his area tidy. I guarantee you that he does not want to be living there anymore than you do, but it’s most likely the safest option he believes is available to him. Asking the cops to “rustle him out” is only going to put him in more danger and make his situation worse.
If you really feel the need to “report him”, maybe consider reaching out to advocacy/support groups to see what services might be available to him. Providing support and treating him like a human are much more likely to actually solve the problem. Your solution would just hide it from your view while endangering him further.
Because in the past when I’ve lived in places that have had this happen, the situation grows rapidly and the park near my house became unusable for the neighborhood. If I start to see this trending in that direction, I will absolutely be contacting the City Councilor as well as the police to prevent it from escalating. I’m not willing to have my neighborhood get turned into an encampment, and if you think i’m a bastard for that, I’m fine with that.
I work with a homeless shelter in town, they are aware of his location- I saw him up on their board the last time I was there. That means he’s been offered assistance and has declined it. That is often because of drug usage issues, even though this shelter doesn’t require you to be sober to use it.
I’d written a longer response to your post earlier but it seems to not have actually posted. I’ll try and summarize what I had initially written.
I don’t think you’re a bastard at all. If anything you seem to be the only one coming down on yourself and others throughout all of the responses here. I simply think that this is a complex issue and those often don’t have a simple solution. That being said, our current approach to the problem has led us to where we are today, continuing on that path won’t suddenly solve it.
I don’t think anyone would argue with you about not wanting an encampment in their local park but that’s also not the scenario you initially described so that might be why you feel people are reacting differently than you expected.