Mayor wants more 'deep cleansings' of homeless camps
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Mayor Sylvester Turner urged the court to take action after a man was shot at a homeless encampment on Tuesday.
It happened in the 4400 block of Caroline. The encampments are located underneath US-59.
Mayor Turner said there have been two murders and one stabbing at encampments in the past 30 days.
He also said there is a huge health concern. In San Diego, they have seen an increase in Hepatitis at encampments.
Conditions at the camps have worsened, the mayor says, since a federal restraining order was placed on the city ordinance. But he insists Houston is not trying to criminalize homelessness, but rather stop the encampments from growing into the public spaces.
Some camps even included cars and generators powering big screen TVs, Mayor Turner said.
Homeowners like Sanhgee Yoo said they're tired of hearing the gunfire.
"I moved in January 2017 and this is the third time I've heard about the crime," said Yoo.
In addition to concerns over crime, neighbors say they've seen human waste in their yard and trash left behind.
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Mayor Turner is pushing for more "deep cleansings" of the camps, amid concerns over health issues and the potential for a Hepatitis A outbreak. An outbreak is currently impacting people on the West Coast.
While some want them out now, others want to make sure the homeless have a place to stay first.
"I don't really know a solution to the situation. Obviously people who don't have homes, where are they supposed to go? But it's clearly not a good situation if people are obviously getting killed," said Hadley Sheppard.
