Houston homeless blame Super Bowl for ouster from underpass
HOUSTON (AP) – Fences have gone up and dozens of homeless people living under a Houston freeway overpass have been ordered out, and some speculate that the city is trying to make the area more presentable as it prepares to host the Super Bowl early next year.
Rhonda Parkton tells the Houston Chronicle (http://bit.ly/2fogQbj ) she and others who frequent an area under highway U.S. 59 in midtown Houston between downtown and NRG Stadium believe the Feb. 5 NFL championship is the reason police officers showed up early last week and warned them it was time to collect their stuff and move on.
“That’s what everyone’s saying,” the 29-year-old said.
Marc Eichenbaum, who focuses on homeless initiatives in the mayor’s office, said the area was an active site for users and dealers of synthetic marijuana, and many of those cleared from the area didn’t live there.
Transportation Department spokesman Danny Perez told the newspaper “local law enforcement” asked the agency to look into the issue because people had been crossing a nearby freeway exit ramp used by drivers.
“The best means of keeping folks from crossing the ramp was to fence off the area under the freeway,” Perez said.
Eichenbaum said the way the area was cleared was “obviously not the way that the mayor would want to handle it, because we believe in doing a holistic approach, and not just moving problems around.”
The city routinely visited the area to provide substance abuse, housing and other assistance, he said, blaming the quick steps last week on a “breakdown in communication.”
Houston began a concerted effort to house the homeless more than five years ago, according to Marilyn Brown, president and CEO of Houston’s Coalition for the Homeless. More than 8,500 homeless were counted in Harris County in 2011. The most recent count, in January, found about 3,600.
The upcoming Super Bowl is not a factor, she said.
“It has never been anything other than maybe the Super Bowl is a bit of a milestone for us,” Brown said.
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Information from: Houston Chronicle, http://www.houstonchronicle.com
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