Dignowity Hill residents, homeless centers to discuss vagrancy issues at roundtable

A discussion titled “Dignowity Dialogue — Homelessness” will be held 6 p.m. tonight (July 20) at Ella Austin Community Center, 1023 N. Pine St. This is not an official meeting of the Dignowity Hill Neighborhood Association.

An influx of gentrifiers into the near-East Side neighborhood of Dignowity Hill in recent years means not only new faces, but new voices and concerns in an urban area known partly for its homeless population and the organizations that assist them.

The residents complain that some of the homeless who frequent the neighborhood’s five social services centers — located closer to downtown’s edge — relieve themselves in public, trespass and engage in noisy arguments and fist fights.

Some of the residents are calling for the relocation of the services out of the neighborhood. Others want to open a line of communication with the centers and the population they serve.

Brian Dillard, president of the Dignowity Hill Neighborhood Association, has scheduled a roundtable discussion with the five area homeless ministries and nonprofits for tonight. The roundtable is not an official event of the association.

Dillard says his intention isn’t to displace those who are working with the homeless, but to start a conversation. According to Dillard, most of the ministries work independently and don’t communicate with each other often, if at all.

Representatives from the Catholic Worker House, the Strong Foundation, Church Under the Bridge and Hope House Ministries are scheduled to attend the discussion, according to Dillard. Dillard also said The Salvation Army would be attending, but the program manager at The Salvation Army’s nearby shelter says no representatives from their organization will attend the meeting.

Carston Griffin, 37, lives two houses down from the Catholic Worker House, 626 Nolan St. Unlike the other centers, which are flanked by commercial properties, the Catholic Worker House is flanked by residences like Griffin’s. It offers a place for the homeless to eat, rest, do laundry and obtain personal hygiene items.

“The issues come down to a minority of homeless urinating or defecating on lawns, as well as trespassing on our properties,” Griffin said.

Griffin has worked with Chris Plauche, Catholic Worker House’s volunteer director, to cut down on the number of trespassers in the area.

Two security cameras that monitor Griffin’s front yard have captured vagrants walking up and down Nolan Street on a daily basis. Griffin shares the recordings with Plauche in order to document who is disturbing the community.

Griffin said Plauche keeps records of all of the homeless men and women that come through the Catholic Worker House, and those who trespass are given warnings that can result in their food services being revoked.

Plauche didn’t return phone calls for comment.

Valeree Bell, chair of the homelessness subcommittee for the neighborhood association, said she has had homeless people knock on her windows, try to open her front door and approach her car in the mornings, asking for money.

In an effort to listen to what the community and fellow ministries have to say, George Frederick, president of Hope House Ministries, is looking forward to tonight’s meeting. Frederick said the residents’ concerns are warranted, but there is a lack of sympathy or sense of compassion in residents to get the homeless off the street, and back on their feet.

Hope House Ministries, 430 N. Cherry Street, offers food and clothing as well as counseling and rehabilitation programs, but Frederick believes “we’re just putting a bandage on the situation.”

“On the Eastside — where we reside — we have a lot of homeless sitting at bus stop benches and you have elderly people having to stand up because of it,” Frederick added. “What is the effect on the community if you have homeless people sleeping in vacant houses and lots, or sitting on steps of houses or businesses all night long?”

Colin MacLean, program manager of The Salvation Army’s Dave Coy Shelter for Men, 226 Nolan St., said he receives emails from the neighborhood association often, but chooses to ignore them.

“I don’t have time to deal with them,” MacLean said. “It’s possible, but not likely that we’d work with them in the future.”

Pastor Jim Gipson, the Strong Foundation’s executive director, said his ministry caters to families with children and young women out of foster care.  Located at 414 N. Hackberry St., the Strong Foundation is the farthest into the Eastside than the other nonprofits. The foundation is more than a homeless shelter, Gipson said, offering programs ranging from job interview training to parenting classes and child care.

Dillard said the Strong Foundation is a model he hopes the other ministries and nonprofits follow.

“Jim is the only person who comes to these meetings and participates in the conversation,” Dillard said during a Dignowity Hill Neighborhood Association meeting Monday night.

“If people come into our neighborhood to do ministry, they need to clean up after themselves,” Gipson said during the Monday meeting. “I believe in being a good neighbor and all of us need to strive to be good neighbors.”

Andre Miller, 63, has been homeless off and on for about 20 years, and believes the homeless people who act out or cause trouble in the neighborhood are in the minority.

“I would probably complain (about the homeless) too if I had a home,” said Miller, as he used a cigarette to ward off ants around the base of the bench he was sitting at in Dignowity Park, nearly diagonal to Catholic Worker’s House. “There are some who choose to be homeless … they get high or drunk. They are the ones causing problems.”

On the other hand, Miller doesn’t believe the problem can simply be moved elsewhere and the homeless services pushed out. If a population is moved, another wave of homeless people will just move in, he said.

“What are you going to do? Arrest them? Shoot them? Kill them?” he added.

Other homeless people in the area agree with Miller, saying a few make it worse for the rest of the homeless community.

“Catholic Worker House lets us know what residents say about us and they try to keep us in line, but some people just don’t listen,” said Walter White, 50, who has been homeless for about year and showed his ID to prove he shares the same name as the “Breaking Bad” protagonist.

“They’ll do what they want,” White said.

White has stayed at The Salvation Army’s men’s shelter, which offers food and shelter for a fee. However, he said it was too expensive for him: “$12 a night is a lot for people like us.”

Like Miller, White understands the residents’ perspective and affirmed their right to complain. But complaints only focus on the negative residents, White pointed out — not all of the homeless who pass through or live in the neighborhood break the law.

In a statement to Folo Media, District 2 Councilman William “Cruz” Shaw wrote:

“Engaging in dialogue with our community organizations and ministries on how we can best serve our community is key. There are many great organizations working to help those that are less fortunate and it is important that we ensure they have the tools and resources necessary to help our community in a way that is beneficial to all.”

At tonight’s roundtable, Dillard said there may be a few minutes at the end for residents to ask questions.

“We want to make sure we’re cooperating with (the ministries) as much as we expect them to cooperate with us,” he said.