SALISBURY — During Tuesday night’s Salisbury City Council meeting, City Manager Jim Greene said that the city has been asked over the past several weeks what is being done to help the unsheltered population. To better describe what is going on to mitigate this issue in Salisbury, Greene requested a “cross-departmental” presentation to highlight the city’s partners, programs and services, along with past and future actions.

Greene mentioned “our community needs more resources, more partners and more facilities to address these concerns.” Police Chief Patrick Smith, Homeless Advocate Dennis Rivers and Code Enforcement Manager Michael Cotilla each spoke to council explaining their role in this extensive undertaking. Other departments like public works and parks and recreation were not present, but are actively contributing to these endeavors.

Chief Smith advised the unsheltered population appears to be “growing,” but that does not mean the city has been letting it get out of hand. “We need to provide you with this update because much work has been completed, but everyone doesn’t always see,” Chief Smith said.

As a homeless advocate, Rivers constantly meets with unsheltered individuals to make sure they get the resources they need, whether that is sending them to Rowan Helping Ministries or other betterment agencies depending on their own specific circumstances. Salisbury has a Homeless Take Force made up of multiple local agencies, a homeless outreach team and employs departmental collaborations.

From January to June 2023, Rivers reported that over that time span, 19 people have moved into a shelter, nine have been successfully housed, nine have received public transportation, two have gone through a detox program and one went medical appointment thanks to the city and other partners. National organizations like the Salvation Army and Goodwill have contributed to Salisbury’s plans as well.

Cotilla went through instances of the city and private property owners taking it upon themselves to clean up campsites where unsheltered people congregate that leave a negative environmental impact. According to Cotilla, Salisbury worked with contractors to eradicate the sites on Bendix Drive near and across the street from the IHOP. Owners of land on Cedar and South Arlington streets paid for the clean up. Just on Bendix Drive, the city spent north of $3,400 to get rid of over 19 tons of trash. The flip side of getting rid of these campsites means that it creates “displacement” where people end up at Bell Tower Green or other downtown establishments.

Chief Smith confessed that people need to accept help on their own from the city, but this is not always easy. He describes the aspects of the unsheltered population and that the origin of how they got there are not the same for everyone. Some don’t realize they have problems or the resources that are available. Some just choose to be homeless and do not want assistance.

Still, Chief Smith pointed out the Salisbury Police Department is “unique” compared to many other ones because they have a single position devoted to this issue with Rivers as a homeless advocate. “So in that sense, we’re one step ahead of the game in our approach to how we’re addressing this situation,” Smith said.

Mayor Karen Alexander said that she has brought this up with the Rowan County commissioners. Salisbury does not have a regular budget for human services, but the county as a whole does. She had a message for all Salisbury residents who want to to see this solved quickly: “Please come and help and tell us what you think more that we should do. Go to the county commission meetings and ask for help from the county because they get the budget to do that.”

The city is looking at other sources of funding. The county has started to get some of the $15 million from the opioid settlement, but the process to distribute and spend the money is keeping that on pause for now.

For some at the meeting, the discussion is more personal. Council member Anthony Smith said that one of his six children is homeless in Charlotte. He explained that even though Salisbury has resources, departments and individuals who are collaborating to solve homelessness, the lack of true social workers means that people are not getting professional help.

“This is a major public health issue, and I get it that it’s a public safety issue, but it’s also a public health issue that’s going to require a much broader stakeholder list,” Smith said.

Smith went on to say that the current holistic approach is “not sustainable” due to a lack of resources and funding and that stakeholders need to be held more accountable. “This is systematic of a growing inequality in our society and not enough people are naming that…I love how we’re doing direct services to our unsheltered population, but do we have a really clear grasp of what’s actually happening? Do we have a social analysis of what’s happening here locally?” Smith said.

It was announced that Salisbury will look at other nearby areas to see what they are doing in terms of services, but also ordinances and rules to ensure safety for everyone. Staff is communicating and visiting with them regularly to enact the best solutions. The city attorney, code enforcement and police department will be examining staffing, programs and rule amendments to reinforce these changes. Smith wants to continue to work with others to help the unsheltered by applying a timelines to definite goals.

“We’re all either one accident or incident away from being these same people that we will not look in the eye.” Mayor Pro Tem Tamara Sheffield said. “Existing is not a violation of the law.”