MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Residents in North Memphis are concerned about homelessness after a homeless encampment appeared in a vacant lot.
In one of the poorest zip codes in Shelby County, Frayser, on Thomas St., an encampment is making the issue of homelessness more noticeable.
“I bought my first home in this neighborhood, you know,” Frayser resident Tyaire Jones said. “It’s just not an attractive look for our neighborhood."
The residents are calling on local leaders to do more to deal with the root cause. They said what’s been done has not been enough.
“This neighborhood actually has a bad reputation, with it being North Memphis, and a lot of people [are] trying to better the neighborhood and the house value constantly because of stuff like this," John Michael Jones said. “I think the government, with all these vacant buildings that they can actually rent or buy, they should be able to provide a home for the homeless. Bring food, bring water, bring clothes."
Right now, the Hospitality Hub, which provides services and resources to thousands of Memphis experiencing homelessness in partnership with the City of Memphis, currently has free and emergency shelters and transitional housing, but resources are limited.
This district’s councilwoman, Michalyn Easter-Thomas, contends more direct financial support through legislation is needed.
“Right now, we are truly contracting through nonprofits," Easter-Thomas said. "We provide grants to nonprofits that do this work...and we need to do the opposite of that.”
Leaders, like Charlie Caswell from the county commission, agreed.
“I know that working with a lot of homeless people here in our community, we have deeper issues around mental illness and things these individuals are dealing with that we have to really address," Caswell said. “We got to put resources there. When you look at Hospitality Hub, how do we triple that type of model, right? How do we increase places where individuals who don’t have somewhere to go to be able to go?”
Residents and city and county leaders alike are hopeful after this next election cycle, more attention will be given to this issue by a new crop of local representatives.
"These homeless people are somebody’s brothers and sisters and aunts," Jones said. "So, this is definitely not an attack on them at all. I would hope that Memphis could create more resources for homeless people."