City Of Charlotte: Statement From The City Of Charlotte On Homeless Encampment

Press release from the City of Charlotte:

Cory Burkarth

2/18/2021

We have asked the County how they intend to address people who refuse to leave the encampments and they have yet to provide any solution to that outside of asking law enforcement to physically remove those individuals. The people in the encampments are not criminals and we do not believe they should be treated as such. CMPD is working with community and advocacy groups to identify other resources for people who remain on the site after 5 p.m. Friday.

This is a serious issue and one we have been working on with the County. To be clear, Mecklenburg County is the lead agency for homeless and social services in our community. Since 2018, the City has provided more than $35 million to support efforts to end and prevent homelessness.

Since the County issued its abatement order on Tuesday, the City has been working to determine how to best satisfy the abatement order, while also respecting the people impacted. As a property owner, we have committed to the County that we will clean the site once they have relocated the individuals, as the County committed to doing.

We have and will continue to work with the County and other stakeholders to address this difficult issue.

Below are some recent actions taken by the City of Charlotte to address the homelessness in our community:

This press release was produced by the City of Charlotte. The views expressed here are the author’s own.