Ohio pastor on legal fight to house homeless community: ‘We won't send them away’
Pastor Chris Avell discusses the zoning violations leveled against him for opening his church to the homeless community on 'Fox News @ Night.'
Residents in Jackson, Mississippi, have spoken out against plans to build a massive complex for the homeless population, claiming the move could worsen crime.
While the $600,000 plan to build 60 tiny homes for the unhoused has yet to be approved by the city council, it is already facing backlash from homeowners and skepticism from some council members.
"We have folks saying, 'Don't let it go through. Don't let it go through,'" Ward 5 Councilman Vernon Harley told WLBT 3. "We need to do something about the homeless problem in Jackson, [but] building additional facilities without managing the overall homeless picture won't do any good."
Hartley also revealed his supporters complained that homeless individuals have caused a variety of problems. These include, in some cases, causing derelict properties to burn down after they set fires to stay warm.
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A view of housing units at the Tarzana Tiny Home Village which offers temporary housing for homeless people, is seen onJuly 9, 2021 Los Angeles, California. The structures are similar to those planned for Jackson, Mississippi. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/GETTY)
He stressed that he focuses on taking care of West Jackson residents before inviting new people into the community. Hartley also pushed for community grants to restore homes as well as money to clean up streets and properties.
"If we build it, they will come," he added, according to the WLBT report.
Others have claimed that the plan, which also includes a communal kitchen and bathrooms on an 18-acre location in West Jackson, could attract even more homeless people to the area.
Resident Sheka Epps said that she is in favor of housing for people experiencing homelessness, but the current site is too close to West Jackson homeowners and schools.
"It's going to overwhelm the area with more homelessness, more blight, and more businesses leaving our area," she told WLBT. "We have a lot of land. We have a lot of country land here in Jackson and in Hinds County as a whole. They can build a homeless camp anywhere on the outskirts."
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A homeless encampment in the East Phillips neighborhood. Minneapolis is one state preparing to clear out encampments amid cold weather to try and place the homeless in shelters and housing. (Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
But advocates, such as Jackson Resource Center CEO Putalamus White, say that the plan would help to house the nearly 3,000 homeless people in the city.
"Building this would get us, as a city, going in the right direction," White said during a recent city council meeting. "It would definitely pull a lot of our homeless in West Jackson off the streets."
The Biden administration said last week that they would allocate $3.16 billion to fund over 6,000 projects similar to the one proposed in Jackson across the country.
The Jackson City Council has not yet returned Fox News Digital's request for comment.