LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Around this time in 2019 – the city removed homeless camps from the underpasses in downtown Louisville. In 2021, those encampments are not being cleared but cleaned.
Thursday morning the city, in partnership with a number of homelessness outreach groups, worked to move the belongings of people who live on the Jackson St. underpass.
After everything was cleared, Public Works went through and disposed of garbage and washed the sidewalks and streets.
Bobby Mercer has been living in an encampment like the one on Jackson St. on and off for 15 years. He’s been there when the city has cleared out camps and made residents move in the past.
“When you push people around like that, they have to pick up what they can and they have to take it away,” Mercer said. “You see them crying cause they lose something. I don’t think that’s right.”
But Mercer said he thinks the cleanup Thursday was a good thing.
Outreach groups partnered with the city for the cleanup to make sure everyone is treated with respect and dignity.
“I think it was healthy, I think it was needed, and I'm personally glad that we're where we're at now,” founder of Hip Hop Cares Jeff Gill said.
The city and organizations are following CDC shelter in place guidelines. Instead of removing camps, residents had to move their belongings but will be welcomed back.
“Most people are pretty understanding when it's explained that look, we just want to clean it up so you don't have to sleep in filth, we want to we want to take care of you,” Gill said.
In the past, the city and outreach groups have not always worked together like this. But they say they’ve come a long way towards keeping the houseless community stabilized and safe.
“We want them to be stabilized, we want them to stay housed,” Director of the Louisville Metro Office of Resiliency and Community Services Tameka Laird said. “So we're doing every effort around that.
Those who live in the encampments were able to move back to the northbound side of Jackson St. after the pavement dried.
Cleaning instead of clearing the camps also help outreach groups work with the residents of encampments.
“When people get displaced, we don't know where they go, they may have been in the middle of getting connected to services,” Tiny Herron with St. John Center for Homeless Men said.
The cleanups will continue through next week. Friday the groups will clean the southbound side of Jackson St. Monday they will head to the Preston St. overpass and the Main St. overpass on Tuesday.