Mayor Fischer suspends demolition of homeless camps in Louisville

Mayor Greg Fischer suspended Louisville's demolition of homeless encampments on Monday after a series of clearings put his “compassionate city” slogan into question.

The announcement comes less than two weeks after protesters objected to the Dec. 8 removal of a downtown camp, which has already seen some of its occupants return to the location out of desperation.

Fischer said during a press conference at his office that the city gets praise – and sometimes grief – for touting the value of compassion. But he said it is an aspiration that shouldn’t be used against the city when it falls short.

“It shouldn’t be a word that people use against each other for some reason when we fall short of what we’re trying to do,” Fischer said.

Background:Mayor Greg Fischer to make announcement on homeless camp policy

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The moratorium will go through the holidays, Fischer said, and continue at least until mid-January, when the Metro Council may take up a measure introduced by Democratic Leader Bill Hollander that codifies a rule for a 21-day notice before encampments are demolished. The city will assess the cleanliness of the camps around that time, according to the mayor.

Fischer said he also is creating a task force that will review how the city deals with homeless encampments. The mayor said the group will include, among others, representatives from the police department, Metro Corrections, the Coalition for the Homeless and the St. John’s Center for Homeless Men.

“The values that we espouse that we have should be reflected in all our interactions that we have with our citizens, particularly our most vulnerable citizens,” Fischer said.

A series of encampment removals this year raised public awareness about the plight of Louisville’s homeless as downtown development grows.

The attention has been brought to light in recent weeks by people like Byron “Roc” Peeler, whom Courier Journal has followed since his camp between Jefferson Street and an Interstate 65 off-ramp was demolished. Peeler, who is at University of Louisville Hospital after his left leg was amputated due to infection, challenged Fischer last month to spend a night in his camp, saying that the city's actions were the opposite of compassionate.

Peeler said in an interview on Monday that the mayor has the right idea by postponing the demolitions but that he is concerned that he – or other homeless people – won’t have a seat at the table.

"I don’t want to let everyone drive my bus," Peeler said. "I want to at least be in the passenger seat."

Mick Parsons, a volunteer with Fed with Faith, a homeless outreach group, said he’s also concerned about who is going to be included on the task force.

“I hope that the smaller organizations that do this work are included in the conversation and I hope that homeless folks themselves are included in the conversation,” he said.

Fischer told Courier Journal after his press conference that he wouldn’t mind seeing a homeless person serve on the task force, which will be led by Eric Friedlander, the city’s chief of community services.

Parsons said he hopes that delaying camp cleanups will allow the task force to come up with fixes to some of the problems in the camps. He pointed to the Hepatitis A outbreak – somewhat caused by drug abuse – as a problem that the city could solve with substance abuse help.

City officials said the health department has administered more than 900 Hepatitis A vaccines to those living in encampments.

But Daniel McStoots, who was kicked out of the same homeless camp that Peeler stayed at this month, said the mayor’s plan represents “a temporary solution to a permanent problem.”

McStoots said that he had to postpone gall bladder surgery because he doesn’t have a permanent place to stay while he recovers and that he remains on a wait list for housing but hasn’t heard from anyone in a week.

After spending four days in a hotel – paid for by an anonymous Louisville resident – McStoots and his fiancee were forced to return to the camp off the Interstate 65 ramp, but this time without a tent, despite the rain and cold.

"You don’t have no idea where you’re going," McStoots said. “It’s a terrible feeling man."

Fischer noted that as the task force comes up with ideas to combat homelessness, the city has growing budgetary pressures, including a $38 million increase to its pension costs. He also said a reduction in state and federal funding for transitional housing and homeless outreach work has hurt the city's efforts with the homeless.

Housing advocates point to the current homeless crisis as an extension of the city’s lack of investment in the Louisville Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which was established by the council nearly a decade ago. Several council members and housing advocates have said the fund has not received the $10 million annual allotments that were promised when it was created in 2008.

Fischer laid the lack of local funding at the feet of the previous administration when asked if affordable housing contributed to the homeless problem.

Properly funding the trust fund "hadn’t been done for decades until we started doing it," he said.

For years, however, housing advocates said Fischer failed to put the proper amount toward affordable housing. In this year’s budget, for instance, he called for pouring $2.5 million into the fund, but that amount was boosted to roughly $10 million by the council.

Councilwoman Barbara Sexton Smith, who represents much of downtown, said that lack of investment in the trust fund before and during Fischer's first term is being seen in the streets of her district.

"It was a mistake to not fully funded the Affordable Housing Trust Fund that was set up in 2008," she said. "We went for eight years instead of putting in $10 million in each year, to about $2.5 million. So I'm very proud that we fully funded that program this year."

Reporter Justin Sayers contributed to this story. Reporter Phillip M. Bailey can be reached at 502-582-4475 or 502-582-4475. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/philb.