My suggestions would be to move the center that feeds these people out of the downtown area. Also enforce the areas where they are putting up tents. I am sure there is some law that prevents that. Walking downtown no longer feels safe. It is kind of scary and I don't feel safe leaving my car to go shopping as I do not want it broken into. We were walking downtown on day and there was a very large obviously homeless man walking up and down the street yelling and cursing and looking at everyone menacingly and people were going into buildings to get out of his path. Something needs to be done.

It is easy to judge others Mr.Ellis not all homeless people are beer drinkers or have fancy suits and nice warm homes,or fancy car to drive. Sounds like you think a few like you, can tell others to do as you say .The problems are not the homeless all the time its people like you that want to control others.If you would look around you will see a lot of empty buildings in the city use them for housing. Why do you need Stafford and Spotsylvania counties involded it is the city's problem. I could go on but i think you can build a Great place for dog's and cat's but nothing for the homeless. Do you turn the dog's out at night but you Godly people will throw a human being out in the cold .There are things the homeless people could do if they had a chance to help the city .Why not look for away to help them and help the city to work to gether for all.Remember never kick a person when he is down cause you may be next one down .

I don't think they fact that they are homeless is the issue. A mentally ill person that will scream obscenities at strangers on the street will do it whether they live in a tent, or in a $400K home. Now, it just so happens that the set of mentally ill and the set of homeless tend to have a lot of overlap. You don't solve the problem by treating the symptom though.

I definitely think the City needs to work on this problem. It is getting out of control. Bunch of homeless sit in front of the visitor center and in the bathrooms there. They loiter in the market area. How does this look to visitor. And they are being asked for money. I know if I were hararrased I would think twice about coming back as a visitor. I know that the homeless are coming from far away because of what Micah is doing and the ease of getting supplies, food, etc. They are doing a good thing but why in the historic district. And why give tents and encourage illegal camping. Maybe the city needs to get some new laws on the book concerning loitering, etc and strictly enforcing trespassing and camping/fire laws.

Typical conservative “Christian” – cares (or in this case pretends to care) about the poor until they become annoying. Then comes up with a few anecdotes (no hard evidence by the way) about a few of them acting badly, and generalizes it to the whole group as an excuse for cutting off support to all of them.

I bet he probably thinks that the only reason they’re homeless is because they’re lazy, too.

Also, the sex offender registry isn’t just for violent sex offenders. It lists everyone from the truly violent offenders to kids arrested for public urination. The list has expanded to the point of being useless. And yes, Councilman Ellis, you’re generalizing about the entire population based on one or two people – don’t try to qualify this – if you’re going to do it at least own up to it.

I'm tired of people who think the homeless have more rights than taxpaying citizens. Some of these people refuse treatment or help but Micah keeps attracting more. Does this area really have the resources to deal with the ones who are mentally ill, drug addicts and maybe violent? What are we waiting for - a jogger, child or someone else to be attacked? They panhandle downtown and loiter in groups in front of the library, making comments or leering as people walk by. They are screaming drunk on the canal path & in local parks. I'd like to see you county people invite a few homeless to pitch a tent in your back yard before you accuse city folk of being NIMBYs.

Thank you to those who have actually provided ideas and expressed concerns on Patch and via emails that will be used in developing a solution to this problem.

I will not entertain comments that are derisive toward me personally. For the record, I have volunteered my time at soup kitchens to feed homeless, I've supported funding for Micah Ministries and I've volunteered at the cold weather shelter during the Winter. I've talked to many homeless people and I've heard from many residents and business owners so I am fully aware of the multiple perspectives surrounding this issue, which is exactly why I decided to work toward getting people from various backgrounds around the table to discuss the homeless impact to our city.

Nothing put forth has been anecdotal but everything ive stated comes from my personal interactions with homeless and others' as well.

This type of bum behavior is typical in Richmond.

Articles like this one portray the entire homeless community in a bad light. We don't like it when people leave garbage everywhere, attack people, panhandle, and lay around drunk all day. With the SOLE exception being panhandling, everyone in the Fredericksburg City area has seen garbage on the sides of roads carelessly thrown out of car windows, all over city streets and sidewalks following First Friday or most Friday and Saturday nights, loud (walk intrusive) arguments or fights, and at least known one or two people that have a mental illness that is not currently well-managed. Everyone litters, not just the homeless. Everyone gets into arguments or fights, not just the homeless. Only mentally unstable people attack innocent people for no reason.
The people you have found to take notice of are the people that even the majority of the homeless population don't care for, or want near them. No one wants to camp near a man who might kill you in your sleep, no one wants to have to deal with the hassle of handling the implications of his mental instability (i.e. the cops). As for the garbage, well, my camp's one of the cleanest and well-maintained so I have no idea about others actions as far as cleanliness is concerned.
As for the drunks under the Rt 1 bridge and the Canal Path, didn't City Council come up with some sort of interdiction program to lessen the impact of drunks on the street? Maybe you should start putting some more people on it...

Camping is against the law here! "Misunderstood" has some points. No one should litter, its really unseemly. However, "misunderstood"'s clean encampment is perhaps well run, but illegal all the same.

There is a homeless man in our area who doesn't bother anyone. He is fine. However, there many, many new transients arriving here due to the services, or at least the perception that Fredericksburg will care for them.

It comes down to two issues: Do you want to Help the Homeless? or Do you want to Remove the Homeless? Helping invites more homeless to the area; as conditions in Fredericksburg become better for them than conditions in surrounding areas. Removing makes them someone else's problem, but then, is that ethically fair to the county or state wherever they end up? The solution is probably somewhere in between.

For all of you who are for the homeless, evedentually you have never been in a town like Flint, MI to see what happens once law abiding tax paying citizens are scared away. So keep on campaigning for all these homeless people and I will see you back on here in a few years complaining about how bad Fredericksburg has become. There are two types of homeless people, the ones who are temporarily homeless, they usually go to the homeless shelter where there are rules, no drinking, no drugs, in the door by 7 pm. In bed by 10 pm. Up and out the door looking for a job if you do not have one. The homeless people who do not want to follow the rules are usually not temporary homeless, it is their lifestyle. They do not want a warm bed in a homeless shelter, they are alcoholics and drug addicts and people who cannot or do not choose to function in a "normal" society setting. They are loud and rude and steal, I suppose you have not noticed how much the crime has increased in Fredericksburg in the last year. They litter and harrass people for money and some are mentally ill and off their meds or unstable and those are dangerous, whether you want to admit it or not. You who want the homeless here and preach to us who don't, need to go downtown and have a good look and then drive though the bad part of Richmond or have your child chased home by a ranting homeless person or your personal items stolen and then we will talk.

As a family educator and early childhood instructor, I have a deep concern
for those that are the most vulnerable and have no voice when it comes to
setting policies - CHILDREN. We are seeing record numbers of homeless families and growing numbers of families unable to find affordable housing.

"The National Low Income Housing Coalition recently released a sobering report, which concluded that nationally, more than 25 percent of all renter households now must spend over half their income on housing related costs. Those problems become multiplied and magnified when factoring in low-income renters who do not receive any government subsidies. Housing affordability problems disproportionately impact the lowest American households … in 2010, 53 percent of the 19.4 million cost-burdened renter households were households earning under $20,000 a year,”

While the focus here is on high-risk populations and behaviors my caution is that we don't lump all people together when entering into this conversation so that children and families will not be adversely affected. While housing is essential to ending homelessness, housing alone is not sufficient. We need to provide housing in combination with supports and services. I would encourage you to read the state report card on homelessness for Virginia as you continue this conversation.
http://www.homelesschildrenamerica.org/pdf/report_cards/short/va_short.pdf

Teri Irvine

Teri, thanks for your comments. Are you a city resident? If so, could you email me at dan.telvock@patch.com?

I really appreciate all of the comments here. Mr. Ellis should not be attacked for his comments Tuesday night and for the most part, people have been respectful. He's an elected official and he has a job to do. I have spoken with some of the people who have contacted him, and their concerns are real. I am not going to discount anyone's concerns or opinions. I live downtown. I see what's going on. And it's a good step to see an elected official raise these problems to a level where something might actually get done to benefit all. Maybe it will be a complete flop. Who knows. But I hope more people express their feelings and opinions here in a respectful manner, because that's what Fredericksburg Patch is all about. I really want to hear from more people and I am sure Brad does, too.

Micah is the problem.

Homeless guy from Virginia Beach is heading north. While passing thru Fburg he gets a tent and sleeping bag from Micah and they tell him they will help him get housing. He is subsequently charged with setting a fire. He tells Judge he is going to stay around here because Micah is going to help him get housing. Another homeless criminal to loiter about downtown - thanks Micah!

Name of this homeless person so I can verify the case? email me at dan.telvock@patch.com
I'm not too familiar with what Micah does with the tax money it gets but I do know the director of Micah has a blog on the Free Lance Star, she is a former FLS reporter and since they've located downtown the homeless population here has more than doubled. It's a nonprofit, so its financials are public, but tracking how the money is spent needs to be done. Question: How does Micah help the homeless, how many homeless do they get jobs and housing and how many does Micah bring here and give them a tent and sleeping bag for city woods? There is a woman who speaks every week at Council meetings saying that Micah can't pay its heating bill this year. That tells me Micah doesn't have a whole lot of money to really help homeless people, so is most of this help outreach advice?

WHy can't Micah pay its heating bill: Annual Revenue & Expenses Additional Information
Fiscal Year Starting: Jan 01, 2009
Fiscal Year Ending: Dec 31, 2009
Revenue Total Revenue $608,560
Expenses Total Expenses $367,201

I pulled Micah's most recent tax forms and it shows the help it provides and the salaries and the director isn't making that much at all. But I just pulled it and its 32 pages so I will look through and try to figure out what is happening with the money and why there was problems with keeping the heat on this year.

Paid rent for 17 people $14,262
special shelter for one person $13,904
transit help for 26 people, $7882
ID help for 12 people, $45
prescription drugs for 133 people, $2080
food for 1132 people, $6373
clothing for 2 people $154
tents and sleeping bags for 500 people $7617
Are 500 people sleeping in the woods in the city?

Wow. Maybe those tents and sleeping bags should also come with an interstate bus ticket... Micah can afford it; if I'm reading this right they have an extra $240K to burn (no pun intended).

As a former homeless person now in housing (thanks to Micah and their help - not their money), please keep in mind that more than 1 sleeping bag is usually used when sleeping in a tent. During winter, generally 1 bag is used on the bottom and at least 1 to cover. Also should your tent get raided by the police it, and the contents are destroyed, leaving you with nothing and having to start all over.

Micah has helped me and almost everyone I know. They have helped countless people with getting much needed medical attention and ensuring people don't go hungry. Their emphasis is on self-reliance, not handouts. And Mr. Longman, your burn pun is not funny.

There is undoubtedly a problem in this town. My husband and I moved here about a year and a half ago from a major city and are blown away by the number of homeless people in this town. I truly feel there is no where I can go with out encountering them. There is an encampment where we live, there is another encampment where I work, and when ever we go out for a walk there they are. I am approached for money on the street, at the bank, at the gas station and out for a walk. Recently while walking my dog at the path behind the connivence center I was followed by a homeless man who appeared to be on drugs or mentally unstable. With the Micah center offering the services they do what are these people pan handeling for? Are there not vagrancy or pan handeling laws in Fredericksburg? There needs to be a better way of keeping track of the homeless who are sex offenders and criminals.

According to Micah's executive director, they have never had trouble paying the heating bill. The woman who has spoken at every city council meeting the past four weeks and said that Micah has told her that they cannot pay the heating bill apparently did not have correct information or misunderstood someone. Also, the tax records later disclose that about $200,000 of Micah's asset money is tied up in art that they cannot sell it right away, and there is no guarantee how much they will get for the artwork.

 As a owner of a business downtown... Also as a daughter of a former business owner of 10 years in downtown Fredericksburg. That makes 15 years of watching life and business downtown.... The homeless are becoming more of the population than residents and shoppers. NEVER in the past 15 years have I've seen this amount of homeless. I could always remember the same had full of homeless untill... The last 3 years. I'm sorry to say that less than half of the people who take advantage of the  Micha house are using the facilitiy for what it is attended for..... I watch them every day... Alot of them make their stops at a local convience store located on Caroline st to purchase large bottles in brown paper bags......  Not to mention not a week has gone buy in 3 years .... That I have not been asked for money/everything under the sun. Including my client's.

What bothers me the most is to have my client ask me... "can you watch me walk to my car". Or " are you scared being in here"?  Those comments come from my client's observations  just from the short walk from their car!  I am all for helping people who want help to change. That is why we have the Thurman Brisem homeless shelter. A place for local homeless persons. A place where you have to blow in a breathalyzer and pass drug tests to continue to receive all the comforts that we all work so hard for..... A place that does not advertise in flyers that I know have been distributed more than 5 states thru  the homeless population. The problem is we are attracting a whole new community that are not native to this area at all!!! I have personally watched a business next door to Micha close...  Not quite sure if Micha had anything to do with it but... Im sorry to say.  "I don't think parents feel so comfortable going to a children's dress store that is next to a homeless shelter". Not to mentioned the hoard that hang out in the front smoking....  People do not feel safe downtown!

I don't feel safe downtown!  If the Micha house would follow the rules of the Thurman Brisem homeless shelter.. Drug and alcohol testing. I feel it would solve the problem... It's not the location.... It's the standards... If a person truly wants to change for a better life... drug and alcohol testing should not be a problem... If they need help Fredericksburg has tons of free abuse programs.  Get them enrolled. If they can't do that... Should we continue enable their problem? I do know you have to have lived in Fredericksburg or the surrounding area to stay a the Thurman Brisem homeless shelter. The reason Micha is here in Fredericksburg is to help all homeless but.... No drug or alcohol testing!!! When do draw a line on enabling drug/alcohol problems to none natives or helping those who truly want and need it?

Well put Croasdale...well put.