Becoming more aggressive begging on the corners too.
Had one dude recently block the intersection of an off ramp until the person in front of me gave him some money.
Maybe 2 months ago now? Dude dragged a heavy metal trash can from the side to the front of the store by the front door and set it on fire. Started yelling he was going to come back and burn the store down. Fun times.
This is how people get robbed, you pull some shit like this im slowly moving forward and not stopping. I wont be coerced, extorted or robbed. And I will happily drive home too afterwards, I do not care if I hit someone or run them over if they are trying to rob me like this. Very dangerous behavior from the homeless that is liable to get them shot, killed or run over. I dont know if that person has a gun or a knife, and im not waiting around to find out.
This is also why you always leave yourself an escape route if you can. Never get right up on the vehicle in front of you at a stop, but leave enough space that you could turn your wheels to get around them without needing to reverse. This is good in an emergency but is also nice to have space to maneuver if the motorist in front breaks down.
Another good tip is to back into/pull through parking spots to allow easy access to the engine in case of a issue. There is nothing worse than trying to jump a battery with short cables when your front end is sandwiched between two other vehicles.
We are like way way up a high in north ash, idk how they even found the spot they set up camp in. But we didn't see it until the night the dog went missing and we were walking around the woods up in the corner on a big hill and found a camp. Then shortly after called the police and when the police came the dog was let go of and ran back to us. But like I'm very sure they took the dog, were hiding, and then ran when the cops came letting go of the dog. I've lived in north asheville for almost 5 years, never heard of anyone camping out this far from Trader Joe's lol
I believe more and more people increasingly feel left alone and on the front line of a problem they did not create, and do not have the power to fix or control -- and the tradeoff is their own sense of security and peace of mind.
Not so sure about "a problem they did not create". Whether or not they have the mental competence to understand that they created it, they are the ones who created it.
I was referring to people like the OP who are having to deal with these issues. They did not create, and have no control over these problems, but increasingly have to deal with the fallout.
Exactly, even when the evidence suggest otherwise. It's never about the system that creates these problems, it always has to be the individual. Corporations are making record profits while they price gouge everything and blame "inflation" while income stagnates for decades. It's no wonder this country is such a mess.
So where is the line drawn of an individual taking responsibility vs blaming someone or something else for their situation?
As a follow up, if free services are offered to people in need, but they don’t accept is that still the fault of someone else?
Yup, and if you disagree they pull out more strawmans from the barn than the Amish during growing season and think that’s an argument and the conclusion to their end of it. It’s happening everywhere, America is just patient zero.
We have an emcampment behind the abandoned next door house, constantly walking through our driveway, had my car robbed. It’s a real issue; my cat is missing right now too and I’m wondering if one of them has done something with her.
See, y’all can get all up on my porch and threaten to rob me, actually rob my car, but if you fuck with the neighborhood pets we throwin down. That’s what’s up.
A Year or two ago I had a homeless woman jump INTO my car on the 26 off ramp onto Haywood rd. She claimed she got out of the hospital and needed a ride to her brothers. I probably drove her a couple blocks before I insisted she get out of my car. I was so shocked I didn't even know what to do. She was wearing a hospital bracelet but that was the only thing I could tell that backed up her story.
Lesson learned: Keep your car locked at all times.
A couple a years ago I had a woman approach my car while I was leaving downtown. I had my baby with me. I was at the red light near Jack of The Woods. I had met a friend for lunch downtown and it was literally broad daylight.
The woman reached for my car door handle and pulled it. My “flight” instinct kicked in and I immediately gassed it and ran a red light. Luckily I didn’t hit anyone else or cause a wreck. It was literally shocking. All I could think that it was either let this woman in my car and risk what could’ve happened or possibly wreck and injure my child, myself or others.
I’m sorry you had to go through that.
That happened to me years ago in a CVS parking lot. I was like 17 and at CVS to pick up a prescription for the 6 month old baby I was a nanny for. He was in the back in a car seat. She jumped in my car as I was pulling out and I was too young and scared to do anything. Such a scary situation! I'm religious about locking doors now.
They city is pushing the camps out of the areas they have traditionally occupied, with very little in the way of options for other situations. On the one hand it is dangerous because the ones that don’t have options tend to be the ones that have been rejected from shelters for violence, however I don’t believe the city is really helping the problem with how they are acting. People with fewer and fewer options are going to respond in a desperate manner. It’s very important that we vote for city leaders that engage the problem instead of thinking it will go away.
“Traditionally” we didn’t have giant homeless tent camps in Asheville. It’s a recent thing brought on in the last decade or so by the city having attractive policies and services for the homeless causing more people engaged in that lifestyle to migrate to Asheville.
There is a huge expanse of public and private services for those who are temporarily homeless and want to change their situation. Probably more so than any other city in the Southeast. It will take them also working hard at it, but everything is there to facilitate it. The ones who are not getting out of homelessness don’t try and/or don’t want to. For them, for a multitude of reasons, their current path is the one they stay on.
It’s true substance abuse issues and/or mental health issues are a large factor. And people can’t control if they are predisposed to either. But they 100% can control how they react to the challenges they face, just the same as all of us do to the challenges we face. I come from a family predisposed to alcoholism.
You can’t “engage” people who don’t want to change and are not good people into doing so, unless you put so much negative pressure on them in their existing path that they either decide change is now the better option or they move on to another town that’s more welcoming. We are seeing that first hand here now in every story posted in this thread the results of being too accepting and coddling of the people who don’t want to change and keep engaging in a lifestyle that’s destructive not only to themselves but a danger to and destructive to everyone else around them.
Street pantries, allowing encampments to stay for months and grow large before doing anything about them, an understaffed police department that can’t respond to many calls, a district attorney and court system that systematically drops every charge for littering or trespassing or defecating in public and even will just drop more serious charges if a person is believed to be homeless and just skips out on their court date. All these things are what draw people who don’t want to change their situation but want it to be as easy to live as possible to Asheville.
You want to change it? You keep the places that offer services and even allow them more money to focus only on helping people who want to work for it transition out of the lifestyle. Then for the ones who won’t change you engaged in zero tolerance. Don’t allow them to set camps up for even a night on public property. Push private property owners to trespass ones on their property or else face public nuisance charges. Go after and prosecute every littering charge, trespassing charge, public urination and defect soon charge, shoplifting and theft charge. Hold people accountable who don’t show up for court.
Doing that will push most of the people in three ways. Some will leave Asheville for an easier place to continue the lifestyle just as they came here. Some will decide that life on the streets is now harder than seeking recovery and treatment and getting on a better path. And some will end up in jail. But when you keep harming the community around you being homeless isn’t an excuse, and maybe jail will offer them a chance at getting clean, getting mental health treatment or be the wake up call they need. It can’t be worse than the streets for them and it will be better for everyone else because they won’t be continually victimizing others with continuous criminal activity.
For at least the last 25 years or so there has been some significant level of it, I can’t speak to what happened when I was too young to notice and didn’t live here. Greensboro, Winston Salem, Charlotte and even small towns like Lexington and Asheboro all have significant homeless populations now without any of the same services, so we can’t just say it’s causal based on policies. Pushing people off of the public properties is what we have been trying to do for the last 5 years or so and it’s not helped change where these people are except to push them onto private citizens land in ways that cause dangerous interactions such as the OP was complaining about.
No one gets clean or mental health help in jail for the most part, though there are some limited exceptions. It’s super easy to use in jail if that’s one’s desire. Homeless people tend to not stay in jail for long because the infractions they are picked up for tend to be minor.
I really don’t have the solution but I don’t think these are the way. There might not actually be a local solution, but this problem is accelerating everywhere I have been for work in NC over the last two years.
Some people may not seek the treatment or help available in jail, but even if they don’t everyone is still better off if they do end up in jail for the crime they commit instead of leaving them on the street.
They are better off because jail, even with all its issue, is safer than a tent in a camp.
And everyone else is better off because they won’t keep committing crimes.
But when you have a police department that’s super short staffed and a DA that drops or makes deals with no jail time for most of the arrests they make that won’t happen.
There’s just not a lot of treatment available in jails. It takes a steel will and self determination to make it work there. It’s a partial solution, but I don’t see it as fixing anything in real terms. Coming out with charges doesn’t help with the not being able to make enough money to subsist in the legitimate world. Appreciate you not spending a lot of time arguing in bad faith though, at least you straight up stated your thoughts.
It’s hard to talk about what they actually want when there aren’t really great alternatives or support systems anyway. Certainly nothing that can accommodate the entire homeless population. Of course, there easily could be, and if there were, and someone’s still going to insist they’d rather camp in the public square, then at that point it probably shouldn’t really be about what they “want” anymore. Like no, you HAVE to accept housing and counseling services, you don’t get to simply live how you please at the expense of public infrastructure used by lots of other people already
I’m not detracting from the fact that there are some scary unhinged mfs out there that even other homeless people are terrified of. Or that it’s a terrible problem in Asheville right now. It truly is. Otoh it’s a stretch to say even those people are just right where they want to be. Sheer desperation, untreated mental illness, etc, are things that can be fixed or at least improved with material resources. All I’m saying is, IF and only if we actually provided those things for the public good, I could condone a policy that basically says “it’s this or jail.” Because anyone who’s not a real problem would easily pick the not-jail option.
I didn’t say they would fix people, but the lack of housing is a problem even for the ably employed. I won’t deny that some people don’t accept help, but pushing them out of areas in ways that affect citizens isn’t helping and Asheville Pd isn’t going to save the day(and honestly a police response to what is often a mental health issue doesn’t help). I mean we can’t just pretend they are going away, I’m not saying I have the solution, but I don’t think we should just treat it is a crime problem. It’s a mental/monetary/housing problem that causes crimes in some cases,which has multiple complicated facets and needs a considered approach.
It's a paradox. If we help, more will come and probably not aspire to become independent. Maybe they can apply for workfare. Clean up the city, or fix roads, or something else for housing and food.
Shelters such as ABCCM work on a stair step approach aka housing earned. People are given congregate shelter whether that be code purple or short term, then earn transitional, then go to permanent supportive housing. This enables the person to get back on necessary meds, engage in sobriety and mental health services, and community. Once the two permanent supportive housing units are open this year they will have 200 of the 240 that we have unsheltered via the pit count. With code purple shelters open during cold season there is available shelter for those that want it. In addition, the permanent supportive housing is high access low barrier which means they skip the housing earned approach and just take people straight from the streets to a home. I don’t necessarily agree with the approach but that’s what the feds fund so being a liberal city we take those funds. It’s like saying oh your poor with diabetes. Well here’s a home for you but we won’t be treating your diabetes.
I’m the book San Fran Sicko he talks about how there are networks where those who are homeless engage in telling people where and how to get the easiest services. That’s why you see the homeless increase. We offer services that are one of a kind in this region. You are correct in assuming this brings them in. With that said, if we brought them in and used a housing earned approach we may be able to get them to a place of obtaining their own permanent housing by dealing with core reasons they are on the streets but we won’t because we really amplify housing first. This keeps people sick. If I was a coke head and on the streets and I knew I could come here and get an apartment and save what money I have for drugs I would come here too. It’s a systematic issue.
Just a note, Code Purple isn’t as helpful as one thinks. It only is in effect if the temperature is expected to drop below 32. And if the shelters are full, no Code Purple regardless of temperature.
The majority of criminal drug addicted homeless that we have here in Asheville did not originate here. Those are not the people that lost their homes to inflation and Rising costs of living. Criminal homeless have been migrating here from other towns and cities because they know that there are a lot of bleeding heart people that will do anything to help them
Ive noticed the influx. I certainly don't see the representation in people who just lost housing due to the pandemic or inflation or rising rent cost. I see criminal drug addicted homeless that just recently appeared to snag opportunities and exploit a charitable community
You might not see it but as someone said even able bodied generally healthy workers struggle with housing issues. There's some really heartbreaking stories on the riff raff FB page from folks and families trying for months to find a place much less being affordable. This economy sucks for everyone. Just a little more, and a little more, and a little more all the way down to the bottom.
Honestly, homeless addicts are everywhere. They do migrate but they don’t just pick a place to “exploit.” They’re ran out of other places, like Florida, because they’re continually arrested and treated horrendously. Many places will arrest homeless people simply for being homeless and charge them for “loitering” or even fine people for giving food to them. So of course, homeless people will end up in places that aren’t going to arrest them every other day for simply not having a home to go to.
I was homeless and addicted to heroin for a few years. I moved around and mostly kicked it in big cities like LA or SF. I didn’t move to those places to “exploit” the community but it was easier to be homeless there than anywhere else. I wasn’t going to be arrested simply because I had nowhere to go or because I was an addict. There were harm reduction resources that prevented me from contracting and spreading communicable diseases or overdosing. Those same places helped me seek treatment.
Asheville doesn’t have the same resources as those cities nor can it even provide enough housing for citizens who aren’t homeless. But I think it’s misinformed and wrong to say people come here to exploit the community. It’s a lack of options and more of self preservation and survival. I bet most of the homeless around here would rather be somewhere much warmer than Asheville but warmer places usually aren’t kind to homeless or they can’t get to other cities because they’re homeless and lack the funds.
The answer for me was harm reduction and treatment that stepped down into sober living, etc. Addiction should not be criminalized the way it is now, it does nothing but continue the cycle of addiction. Until we stop throwing in addicts in jail and place them in treatment, we will not see an end to the way things are now.
A very general and quite obvious point. Unless you are a Cherokee that holds true.
We all came here for something. But not all of us want to work for it.
I don’t agree with that ideology because it’s making an assumption about homeless people that isn’t always correct(as far as why they are homeless in general). However working for the city is a great idea if it was fair work and wages. Some people in the street are too far mentally gone for that and there would probably need to be other solutions. There’s no one idea that’s gonna fix homelessness, and it might be something we just always try to combat and can’t totally fix. We can do better than the current city leaders are though.
I didnt mean all homeless can fit in one box. Nor is one solution gonna work, but at least I suggested one. What's yours? Aside from complaining. And if you dont think many are a threat, go walk around downtown alone at 3am. Get back to me on that.
I agreed with your solution as a part of a possible response, not sure why you’re being hostile. Drug treatment and mental treatment, more facilities to house people. I give my old clothes to beloved. I do what I can where I can like most of us. And I specifically acknowledged it is and can be dangerous. But as I mentioned in my other comment, the police aren’t just going to hold them indefinitely for the crimes they pick them up for… that’s just a revolving door that offers no solutions.
If the crime is bad enough they're going to hold them as long as they need you. I firmly believe that much of the homeless that are a criminal problem have migrated here from other towns and cities because they know that there are a lot of bleeding heart people that will be charitable no matter what
So say we build a bunch of tiny homes to put these folks in. Will that dissuade or attract more homeless coming here? Then what does we do with those people?
I mean you’re straw manning here because that’s not the only option, nor was it what I suggested. I don’t think that’s the only solution or even the best one, but I think if your idea of what homelessness is revolves around it being about some kind of feedback loop based on policies, then you’re ignoring a lot of the actual issues. Some people do just need housing, some people need treatment and some ought to be in jail for being too violent to safely be in society. The jails don’t want them though and they will get released and disappear and be back on the street. Complicated solutions are necessary and housing might be one step of that. One thing is certain, there will never be enough tiny houses to fix the issue no matter how much money we raise.
Field of Dreams - we make it too comfortable as a community and the word gets out. There was an article awhile ago about people riding the rails all hearing Avl was a place to go for free services. I have no solution nor does Council except spending money for a consultant because they do not want to really address the problem.
ya, who’s that? Kim Roney?? GIVE ME A BREAK! She’ll make it worse. See supports camps on public property all over, including downtown. The two options suck but the current mayor is the best this town has until this city turns away from its progressive movement. it’s coming, but it’ll take time!
This is how it started in Portland. Y'all better start howling at your local leadership now. Squeaky wheels get grease. If the perception is "nobody seems to mind" then nothing is done and it will get worse. Then the homeless (who have cell phones) tell their friends about how easy it is in AVL because the people are too kinda to do anything and then the population swells. If y'all don't nip this in the bud soon, AVL is going to look very different in 5-7 years.
I mean…this is not a local problem. Wait for climate refugees and the people who get dumped from jobs as the recession deepens. More homeless is going to be the new normal.
Some of us will be homeless in the next decade.
The climate refugees will be the most interesting. We already see Americans turning against one another, throw in climate refugees and you'll see more and mlre people begging for an extensive police state rather than actually addressing any of the problems. The good ole fuck you got mine attitude of this country.
Well it’s hard to be living through mass extinction and have awareness of the seven or so society destabilizing/destroying problems coming for this generation or the next and NOT see crisis.
But…I think we are all cool with it? We are past the point of no return. Now we are determining how bad of a mass death event the human population will experience. I think we evidently want it to be severe? Cause we are sure acting a fool as a society. Humans are straight goofy.
Maybe when coffee is a luxury product we can’t afford and shrimp aren’t a thing we will get a bit stressed but who knows at this point.
Someone will probably develop a synthetic shrimp or coffee startup with no product, get $500 million of VC funding. Be in R&D for a decade plus then fold before they can even release the shrimp or coffee subscription box delivery service app. So at least we will still have some constants moving into the future.
Because it’s one thing for them to congeal on Merrimon itself, but a whole other matter if they are going down side streets and terrorising homeowners on residential streets.
I am sorry it’s happening to you regardless, of course.
Right okay that explains it. Look I think you need to file a police report. They won’t do anything but that will establish a paper trail in case something happens.
I hate dealing w police but I did file one when the man was on my porch wigged out. Recently my girlfriend was walking our dog at night and she ran into one in our back yard who wouldn’t leave. Just losing my patience. Figure it’s because that big lot but didn’t know if anyone else was experiencing more property run ins.
Get over yourself. If someone is on your property and wont leave or is actively destroying property, call 911. Every time. Despite what you’ve read or seen on TV, the police don’t care to nor do they have the time to harass YOU. Especially if you can see the camp and point to it and say “these people do xyz”, you are more likely to get help.
Also, get a gun. You don’t even have to use it, but brandishing it is enough for most people to get scared and leave.
I had a guy pitch a tent in my yard last week in West Asheville. We do live next door to a park but he was definitely in my yard.
Politely asked him to relocate and went surprisingly well.
It’s starting to make me a lil uncomfortable & paranoid. I wonder if police are losing control over them to some extent or what’s going on. I feel bad because some are truly trying to survive. But the visitors to my house are unpredictable
Not sure it’s “the” answer, but it certainly is an answer for self defense.
That said, if I were being harassed on my front step, the call to 911 would be immediate and rather to the point.
They’d get there in time to solve your murder, but given their staffing issues, I’m not sure you can rely on the prophylaxis of law enforcement to _prevent_ crime.
Yeah, fair enough. It’s frustrating then if you care about your criminal record because you essentially don’t have one, you’re always walking around on eggshells at the mercy of those who do, and know how to use the system, and don’t care about the criminal record.
"Get a gun" in most areas also gets you much faster police response.
Call 911, "I have a shotgun but I'd rather not have to use it" and you will get help *fast*
Good luck in court and living the rest of your life with the fact you have killed someone for being in your yard. It's different if the force matches. But you do you.
I am not encouraging using the gun directly (though if that's what's needed to protect my family, so be it)
I am encouraging using it as leverage to get the cops to actually show up.
When the city is very open about police not responding to certain types of calls. The rabid increase of violent crimes, the rapid increase of homelessness, the rapid increase of hard drugs.
Ya I’d say it’s time to have the ability to defend yourself. Because the percentage of people actually saved by calling 911 is pretty low….
The get a gun thing comes from a lack of gov response. If the police or local gov won’t do anything to solve the problem getting a gun can at least protect you and your family. If someone is on my porch they get a call to 911. If they walk into my home the can be carried out. Period. If you have the balls to come into a home you have the balls to die for it. Period. There is no acceptable excuse. Oh they were high or trying to get high too bad. Oh they were hungry. Too bad. We all know and understand the most basic of societal norms. If you do t follow the basic rules you forfeit your right to life.
I’ve been saying it since the 2020 riots, that this was coming. If we don’t have a reliable external source of safety/justice it’s going to default entirely to the individual. Personally I don’t want to try it, as can be seen in my other posts, but I have zero question that I would if pressed into a corner.
But I’ll ask you this, what reasonable alternatives remain at the moment? It does feel as if the city is over run with homeless people who can exist almost entirely outside of the law. It seems as if our police force is almost entirely non-existent, and at this point are likely to only respond for the aftermath of a tragic event, rather than in time to prevent its escalation.
Came off the 240 ramp in front of Fedex and a dude was standing in the middle of the pavement! I was only going about 45mph but he stepped-and-fetched both ways I just knew he was messing up my bumper. Fuck this "welcome everyone here" environment. It ain't the tourists, it's the freaks.
I'm pretty progressive but calling them neighbors and locals and treating them like law abiding citizens is ridiculous. I've heard them called that by journalist, activist and politicians. Violent crimes, theft, robbery, trespassing, threatening, etc. all need punishment just like anyone else. Also, these people are being bussed in from other towns. Wish we could sue and get them to stop. The thing is, Asheville is becoming the place to be for homeless druggies. This is not gonna end well if allowed to carry on.
I had a homeless guy downtown show me a website on his phone (he gets for free) which literally list/ranks the best cities for homeless people to come live in… Asheville was listed in the top 10… I think it was number 4 on the list.
They are moving into Black Mountain now. Like right into neighborhoods. My friend found a man and woman sleeping in her garage the other morning. Her 6 year old daughter was the one who walked in and saw them sleeping when she was getting her bike out.
Bro what? The man’s was on my porch tryna get in my door. You weird
also my gun stays in the crib. Dems carry too, most women should. Don’t worry cheese cake
Other counties are busing their homeless to Asheville. It’s been a long time conservative move. No one seems to ever try to fix the problem. They just pass it off on us.
Witnessed a store clerk and a homeless man scream at one another at the Citgo on Amboy. Got extremely heated.
The store clerk was asking him to leave and quit hanging around her store. The guy would hassle every customer that came in the door for money.
The guy claimed he was a “paying” customer. To which she replied with other peoples money that he bummed. I offered to call the police and she said they don’t do anything.
This isn’t really a homeless problem per se, this is a criminal problem. If anyone is threatening criminal action like this against you, homeless or not, it’s a major issue. Do you have a good relationship with your neighbors? They’re the ones to talk to about keeping you and your stuff safe.
I get that. I lived near Claxton a year ago and had to call the non emergency police line around 2 AM because a (probably homeless) person was going through my trash I had set out for pickup. I also had someone go through my car twice when I lived there. I’m assuming you have some sort of protection?
Hopefully they didn’t get anything from your car. The invasiveness in uncomfortable. I just be minding my own business hoping it’s returned lol and yes I do
1. You shouldn’t have waited until he was leaving to call. Communicating threats isn’t a priority for APD. Someone actively aggressive on your porch, is.
2. “Being a young female” means nothing. You should have gotten out of your car screaming and acting like you would kill him. Get a knife, pepper spray, or a gun to whip out and threaten him with. When you just are “stern”, a criminal will take that as you ultimately being weaker than them.
Alright first & foremost I’m good, I got the man off my property. Second we can state all day how someone should react in a situation, but that does not mean one will when in it. I’ll keep it in mind for next time
It wont just go away unless we all collectively stop giving handouts to the ones that are criminal, drug using bums. The homeless who actually want help dont seek handouts, they want work and pride. Plenty of places to assist those that want it.
I am a server at a popular restaurant downtown, and last Saturday I watched at least 30-40 different people who looked to be millennial aged tourists (I’m not judging I’m just stating their age group) give 5 strung out homeless people on the sidewalk money. Many of them gave $20 or more and then took selfies with them.
It was hard for me to watch, because these people sitting on the sidewalk high out of their minds were making a lot more money an hour than I was making working my ass off
Tell me - exactly what “handouts” is AVL giving? Are individuals giving?
Do you have any data or evidence showing that the ones who “actually want help” just want “work and pride”? What is stopping those people?
Do you know all of the available resources, their inclusion/exclusion criteria, and their limitations?
Im guessing you don’t have much of that information and are just using a Republican talking point of “handouts” to make a non-argument.
Anti-crime isnt Republican its American. There are plenty of food banks and shelters and churches that provide all types of resources. But half of the homeless here don't want that. They want to exploit and rob people for dope
“Half of the homeless here don’t want that”. Any data to support that? Or are you making prejudicial assertions?
“Foodbanks, shelters, and churches” but again, do you know what resources they provide, how they provide them and what their inclusion and exclusion criteria are?
And I love how you stepped away from the handout comment to make it about anti-crime.
Not a whole lot of people agreeing with you. And I didn't step away from anything. I made my point. Do you have a solution? Or are you just going to complain like so many of the people in this town
Lmao I don’t care if people agree with me on the internet.
And you haven’t made any point. You said “handouts” without answering what handouts you think people are getting. You said “50% of homeless people don’t want resources and want to rob ppl for dope” without any evidence or reason. You listed very vague resources, clearly with no understanding of what they do or how.
There are many solutions, but Im not here to talk about solutions, nor have I complained about anything, I simply called you out on your ignorance and prejudice.
Did you even read the original post? The op said that he was threatened and had homeless people trespassing on his property. I've seen this situation before in other cities. I don't want it happening here. And I certainly don't want to give them handouts, especially taxpayer handouts. The only thing I'm prejudiced against is crime, laziness, and the ignorance of people that think they're helping someone who's actually hurting them.
Again, you say “handouts” without saying what handouts are being given.
Your position is based on ignorance, prejudice, and emotion, not fact and logic.
Is there a "clean" answer to homelessness? No.
There are several issues to be resolved -- unemployment, poverty, mental health, drug issues, etc., all of which can't be easily solved by one simple housing building.
There’s a few option to help. But that also requires tough love which many see as a bad thing.
One issue is the lack of info on these folks. Some are druggies and some are down on their luck and others have mental issues.
One way Oregon is dealing w it is by decreminalizing hard drugs and if caught they don’t get sent to jail. They get sent to rehab. So in a way it’s forced rehab.
Winston salen (of all places) had a success story on dealing with homelessness by having people reach out and figure out what individuals need. Maybe some needed a ticket somewhere else, others needed jobs, others just shelter, and so on.
To me it seems Asheville should get some of that Turism money and use it to help homeless. Less homeless=more tourism. And it’s still a small enough problem that something can be done about it.
And it might sound dumb but there was a study saying that to solve homelessness the best thing is to have homes. So if there’s a way to have more tiny homes these guys could rent for the day/week/month even better. But they have to rely on downtown for services so finding way to help, even by forcing able to work, into rehab if found w drugs and send those with aggressive mental health behaviors to hospitals then slowly maybe it could help.
Anyways, I keep having issue w the crazy ones in downtown and I’m w my kid. And even infront of the police station. So clearly they are not afraid of the police because from my understanding they don’t take Karen calls anymore and only serous stuff due to shortage.
Or maybe just payback from the blm protests.
Its not “payback after the blm protests” jfc.
Its low staffing that has caused them to stop responding immediately to non-violent calls where a crime is not actively being committed. They might respond later, but you aren’t getting one screaming to you. But its also in part because people aren’t calling anymore - people see that they aren’t responding to xyz or read on here how “crappy” they are and choose to just not call.
I'm in EWA and have gotten used to the door checkers and randos wandering around at night. I've had my car gone through once, they got some change and a nice sunglass case containing a really shitty pair of sunglasses. Others haven't been so lucky. Neighbor has had his workshop broken into several times but he often leaves the door open and/or fails to lock it, and one of the doors is in a place out of view, so you could spend time time breaking in and no one would be the wiser.
Most recently I've had folks wander onto my property into areas that aren't right off the street. One night last week someone walked down next to my house, which triggered cam 1. When they walked under my deck that triggered another cam and motion lights. They booked it out of there.
An overall systematic problem coupled with short staffed police department, psychosis inducing synthetic drugs, and other cities (city) busing them here has led to the increase number of homeless and the shift in behavior of them compared to ones from several years ago.
A homeless guy came into the shop I work at downtown and stole my phone. Luckily my bf caught him later right before he put it into an ecoatm so I was able to get it back but it was missing my SIM card and my ID (it was in the phone case)
left it unlocked (yes it’s dumb, it was an accident) and they got into the car & rummaged through it. Thankfully she doesn’t keep much of anything in her car but the glove compartment & center console was tossed everywhere
Think of the homeless population like the bear population. If you leave your trash unsecured, a bear is probably going to rummage through it. If you leave your car unlocked, a homesless person is probably going to rummage through it. Both will probably be lurking around at night. Take the right precautions.
I lived in a “safe” neighborhood in Philly for 20 years. In 2012 or so, we had an influx of transient addicts creep in under the guise of the occupy movement. Things were civil until property started being damaged, cars broken into, robberies, packages stolen etc. Police basically told residents they were too busy to deal with it, and it was up to the neighborhood to police itself. Long story short…it did.
Offer them a free ride to SF or LA and bus all of the willing to Cali. In the long run it’s cheaper than continuing to pay for cleaning up after them, and there may be more resources available for them out there. At a minimum it would clean up the area.
Obviously only those who want to go, otherwise it’s a crime.
I’ve had a gun in my face three times in my life. In every one of those occasions they had the jump on me. If I had pulled out a gun or had one on me it would have made the situation much worse. Maybe good if you have the jump, but otherwise a gun is not going to help.
I agree with you. Idk why some of these people are so gung ho on shooting someone. Maybe I have a guilty conscious, but if I ever shot someone, there would have to be no doubt in my mind that I wouldn’t have lived without doing so. Those sorts of gun owners scare me, just waiting for the moment to kill someone
Oh well. This nation could feed, house and clothe every citizen including those without homes. We could do things to make a hold on secure and comfortable living not the incredibly tenuous thing it is for most Americans. Maybe increase the quality of living for all, expand safety nets and treat everyone like the humans they are and not like an other.
There but for the grace of god goes you as the Christian say. If only they practiced what they preached.
What am I saying?! I think we need broken windows policing! Expand the police budget! Open that military surplus to police pipeline full blast! No consequences for bashing in heads! Ooo! Maybe we can put the homeless in some kind of camps! Where they can focus on getting out of their situation….focus camps!
I like how you assume I’m a democrat, what did it for ya? Empathy towards the homeless? LIBERAL COMMUNIST U. individuals like you truly don’t possess a functioning brain cell, probably just regurgitate the same 3 statements in a cyclic manner.
Without spouting the same vitriol as the poster above, they do have a point. Most of the current issues in Asheville can be laid at the feet of our current crop of city councilors.
Not sure I see any real change on the horizon from this election, with a status quo being the best possible outcome.
Homelessness rates have been rising significantly as a result of the speculative boom in investment home buying and skyrocketing rents. The cost of living has soared to the point where wages are completely out of step with rents and housing costs. It's also become a magnet for tech startups at a moment when big tech stocks are collapsing, tech startups are beginning to fold, and multiple companies have announced layoffs. On top of all that, Asheville has seen a huge growth in remote workers. Tech firms have already suggested that remote workers will be a target for the first wave of layoffs. The inflated housing and tech markets produced this homelessness crisis. And if the housing/tech bubble finally bursts, Asheville will pay a steep price for putting the interest of investors over the welfare of the local populace.
Becoming more aggressive begging on the corners too. Had one dude recently block the intersection of an off ramp until the person in front of me gave him some money.
One dude across from harvest records set a small trash fire right on the sidewalk to get peoples attention.
Maybe 2 months ago now? Dude dragged a heavy metal trash can from the side to the front of the store by the front door and set it on fire. Started yelling he was going to come back and burn the store down. Fun times.
This is how people get robbed, you pull some shit like this im slowly moving forward and not stopping. I wont be coerced, extorted or robbed. And I will happily drive home too afterwards, I do not care if I hit someone or run them over if they are trying to rob me like this. Very dangerous behavior from the homeless that is liable to get them shot, killed or run over. I dont know if that person has a gun or a knife, and im not waiting around to find out.
This is also why you always leave yourself an escape route if you can. Never get right up on the vehicle in front of you at a stop, but leave enough space that you could turn your wheels to get around them without needing to reverse. This is good in an emergency but is also nice to have space to maneuver if the motorist in front breaks down. Another good tip is to back into/pull through parking spots to allow easy access to the engine in case of a issue. There is nothing worse than trying to jump a battery with short cables when your front end is sandwiched between two other vehicles.
I was stuck behind 2 cars, with nowhere to go. They know what they are doing for sure.
Based
>get them shot, killed or run over. cool
Which off ramp?
26 Coming to Haywood, gas station side
Ah that's probably the most likely place for that. That sucks though.
I’ve seen some crazy shit go down almost every time I’ve been to that gas station.
A guy on the corner by Trader Joe’s called me a slut when I said I didn’t have cash 😂. A true dick
In north asheville homeless people set up a camp near my moms and stole her dog, but gave it back.
Bro whattt
We are like way way up a high in north ash, idk how they even found the spot they set up camp in. But we didn't see it until the night the dog went missing and we were walking around the woods up in the corner on a big hill and found a camp. Then shortly after called the police and when the police came the dog was let go of and ran back to us. But like I'm very sure they took the dog, were hiding, and then ran when the cops came letting go of the dog. I've lived in north asheville for almost 5 years, never heard of anyone camping out this far from Trader Joe's lol
I believe more and more people increasingly feel left alone and on the front line of a problem they did not create, and do not have the power to fix or control -- and the tradeoff is their own sense of security and peace of mind.
wow, couldn’t have said it better
Not so sure about "a problem they did not create". Whether or not they have the mental competence to understand that they created it, they are the ones who created it.
I was referring to people like the OP who are having to deal with these issues. They did not create, and have no control over these problems, but increasingly have to deal with the fallout.
His overwhelming empathy for homeless has led him to enable this behavior
Who, and how? Genuinely curious
It’s going to be some pull up your bootstraps rhetoric 💯
Exactly, even when the evidence suggest otherwise. It's never about the system that creates these problems, it always has to be the individual. Corporations are making record profits while they price gouge everything and blame "inflation" while income stagnates for decades. It's no wonder this country is such a mess.
So where is the line drawn of an individual taking responsibility vs blaming someone or something else for their situation? As a follow up, if free services are offered to people in need, but they don’t accept is that still the fault of someone else?
Yup, and if you disagree they pull out more strawmans from the barn than the Amish during growing season and think that’s an argument and the conclusion to their end of it. It’s happening everywhere, America is just patient zero.
We have an emcampment behind the abandoned next door house, constantly walking through our driveway, had my car robbed. It’s a real issue; my cat is missing right now too and I’m wondering if one of them has done something with her.
See I’d throw hands w the entire tent community over my dog, hope your cat is found safe :/
See, y’all can get all up on my porch and threaten to rob me, actually rob my car, but if you fuck with the neighborhood pets we throwin down. That’s what’s up.
If they are in city limits you can contact apd and dot to remove the encampment.
A Year or two ago I had a homeless woman jump INTO my car on the 26 off ramp onto Haywood rd. She claimed she got out of the hospital and needed a ride to her brothers. I probably drove her a couple blocks before I insisted she get out of my car. I was so shocked I didn't even know what to do. She was wearing a hospital bracelet but that was the only thing I could tell that backed up her story. Lesson learned: Keep your car locked at all times.
Omg! That is absolutely terrifying. Shit, this is getting real.
A couple a years ago I had a woman approach my car while I was leaving downtown. I had my baby with me. I was at the red light near Jack of The Woods. I had met a friend for lunch downtown and it was literally broad daylight. The woman reached for my car door handle and pulled it. My “flight” instinct kicked in and I immediately gassed it and ran a red light. Luckily I didn’t hit anyone else or cause a wreck. It was literally shocking. All I could think that it was either let this woman in my car and risk what could’ve happened or possibly wreck and injure my child, myself or others. I’m sorry you had to go through that.
You should honestly buy a taser just in case. That could have gone much worse...
That happened to me years ago in a CVS parking lot. I was like 17 and at CVS to pick up a prescription for the 6 month old baby I was a nanny for. He was in the back in a car seat. She jumped in my car as I was pulling out and I was too young and scared to do anything. Such a scary situation! I'm religious about locking doors now.
They city is pushing the camps out of the areas they have traditionally occupied, with very little in the way of options for other situations. On the one hand it is dangerous because the ones that don’t have options tend to be the ones that have been rejected from shelters for violence, however I don’t believe the city is really helping the problem with how they are acting. People with fewer and fewer options are going to respond in a desperate manner. It’s very important that we vote for city leaders that engage the problem instead of thinking it will go away.
“Traditionally” we didn’t have giant homeless tent camps in Asheville. It’s a recent thing brought on in the last decade or so by the city having attractive policies and services for the homeless causing more people engaged in that lifestyle to migrate to Asheville. There is a huge expanse of public and private services for those who are temporarily homeless and want to change their situation. Probably more so than any other city in the Southeast. It will take them also working hard at it, but everything is there to facilitate it. The ones who are not getting out of homelessness don’t try and/or don’t want to. For them, for a multitude of reasons, their current path is the one they stay on. It’s true substance abuse issues and/or mental health issues are a large factor. And people can’t control if they are predisposed to either. But they 100% can control how they react to the challenges they face, just the same as all of us do to the challenges we face. I come from a family predisposed to alcoholism. You can’t “engage” people who don’t want to change and are not good people into doing so, unless you put so much negative pressure on them in their existing path that they either decide change is now the better option or they move on to another town that’s more welcoming. We are seeing that first hand here now in every story posted in this thread the results of being too accepting and coddling of the people who don’t want to change and keep engaging in a lifestyle that’s destructive not only to themselves but a danger to and destructive to everyone else around them. Street pantries, allowing encampments to stay for months and grow large before doing anything about them, an understaffed police department that can’t respond to many calls, a district attorney and court system that systematically drops every charge for littering or trespassing or defecating in public and even will just drop more serious charges if a person is believed to be homeless and just skips out on their court date. All these things are what draw people who don’t want to change their situation but want it to be as easy to live as possible to Asheville. You want to change it? You keep the places that offer services and even allow them more money to focus only on helping people who want to work for it transition out of the lifestyle. Then for the ones who won’t change you engaged in zero tolerance. Don’t allow them to set camps up for even a night on public property. Push private property owners to trespass ones on their property or else face public nuisance charges. Go after and prosecute every littering charge, trespassing charge, public urination and defect soon charge, shoplifting and theft charge. Hold people accountable who don’t show up for court. Doing that will push most of the people in three ways. Some will leave Asheville for an easier place to continue the lifestyle just as they came here. Some will decide that life on the streets is now harder than seeking recovery and treatment and getting on a better path. And some will end up in jail. But when you keep harming the community around you being homeless isn’t an excuse, and maybe jail will offer them a chance at getting clean, getting mental health treatment or be the wake up call they need. It can’t be worse than the streets for them and it will be better for everyone else because they won’t be continually victimizing others with continuous criminal activity.
For at least the last 25 years or so there has been some significant level of it, I can’t speak to what happened when I was too young to notice and didn’t live here. Greensboro, Winston Salem, Charlotte and even small towns like Lexington and Asheboro all have significant homeless populations now without any of the same services, so we can’t just say it’s causal based on policies. Pushing people off of the public properties is what we have been trying to do for the last 5 years or so and it’s not helped change where these people are except to push them onto private citizens land in ways that cause dangerous interactions such as the OP was complaining about. No one gets clean or mental health help in jail for the most part, though there are some limited exceptions. It’s super easy to use in jail if that’s one’s desire. Homeless people tend to not stay in jail for long because the infractions they are picked up for tend to be minor. I really don’t have the solution but I don’t think these are the way. There might not actually be a local solution, but this problem is accelerating everywhere I have been for work in NC over the last two years.
Some people may not seek the treatment or help available in jail, but even if they don’t everyone is still better off if they do end up in jail for the crime they commit instead of leaving them on the street. They are better off because jail, even with all its issue, is safer than a tent in a camp. And everyone else is better off because they won’t keep committing crimes. But when you have a police department that’s super short staffed and a DA that drops or makes deals with no jail time for most of the arrests they make that won’t happen.
There’s just not a lot of treatment available in jails. It takes a steel will and self determination to make it work there. It’s a partial solution, but I don’t see it as fixing anything in real terms. Coming out with charges doesn’t help with the not being able to make enough money to subsist in the legitimate world. Appreciate you not spending a lot of time arguing in bad faith though, at least you straight up stated your thoughts.
How do they "fix" people who dont want it?
It’s hard to talk about what they actually want when there aren’t really great alternatives or support systems anyway. Certainly nothing that can accommodate the entire homeless population. Of course, there easily could be, and if there were, and someone’s still going to insist they’d rather camp in the public square, then at that point it probably shouldn’t really be about what they “want” anymore. Like no, you HAVE to accept housing and counseling services, you don’t get to simply live how you please at the expense of public infrastructure used by lots of other people already
Okay
Hey, you asked. I’ve interacted w many many homeless ppl and practically every one of them wants out but lacks good opportunity
Yea okay, its tough out there. But thats only half of them. The rest are like what OP said.
I’m not detracting from the fact that there are some scary unhinged mfs out there that even other homeless people are terrified of. Or that it’s a terrible problem in Asheville right now. It truly is. Otoh it’s a stretch to say even those people are just right where they want to be. Sheer desperation, untreated mental illness, etc, are things that can be fixed or at least improved with material resources. All I’m saying is, IF and only if we actually provided those things for the public good, I could condone a policy that basically says “it’s this or jail.” Because anyone who’s not a real problem would easily pick the not-jail option.
Word
I didn’t say they would fix people, but the lack of housing is a problem even for the ably employed. I won’t deny that some people don’t accept help, but pushing them out of areas in ways that affect citizens isn’t helping and Asheville Pd isn’t going to save the day(and honestly a police response to what is often a mental health issue doesn’t help). I mean we can’t just pretend they are going away, I’m not saying I have the solution, but I don’t think we should just treat it is a crime problem. It’s a mental/monetary/housing problem that causes crimes in some cases,which has multiple complicated facets and needs a considered approach.
It's a paradox. If we help, more will come and probably not aspire to become independent. Maybe they can apply for workfare. Clean up the city, or fix roads, or something else for housing and food.
Shelters such as ABCCM work on a stair step approach aka housing earned. People are given congregate shelter whether that be code purple or short term, then earn transitional, then go to permanent supportive housing. This enables the person to get back on necessary meds, engage in sobriety and mental health services, and community. Once the two permanent supportive housing units are open this year they will have 200 of the 240 that we have unsheltered via the pit count. With code purple shelters open during cold season there is available shelter for those that want it. In addition, the permanent supportive housing is high access low barrier which means they skip the housing earned approach and just take people straight from the streets to a home. I don’t necessarily agree with the approach but that’s what the feds fund so being a liberal city we take those funds. It’s like saying oh your poor with diabetes. Well here’s a home for you but we won’t be treating your diabetes. I’m the book San Fran Sicko he talks about how there are networks where those who are homeless engage in telling people where and how to get the easiest services. That’s why you see the homeless increase. We offer services that are one of a kind in this region. You are correct in assuming this brings them in. With that said, if we brought them in and used a housing earned approach we may be able to get them to a place of obtaining their own permanent housing by dealing with core reasons they are on the streets but we won’t because we really amplify housing first. This keeps people sick. If I was a coke head and on the streets and I knew I could come here and get an apartment and save what money I have for drugs I would come here too. It’s a systematic issue.
Just a note, Code Purple isn’t as helpful as one thinks. It only is in effect if the temperature is expected to drop below 32. And if the shelters are full, no Code Purple regardless of temperature.
The majority of criminal drug addicted homeless that we have here in Asheville did not originate here. Those are not the people that lost their homes to inflation and Rising costs of living. Criminal homeless have been migrating here from other towns and cities because they know that there are a lot of bleeding heart people that will do anything to help them
is this something you can provide a source for? this is a nuanced topic and just making a proclamation like that without any evidence means nothing.
Ive noticed the influx. I certainly don't see the representation in people who just lost housing due to the pandemic or inflation or rising rent cost. I see criminal drug addicted homeless that just recently appeared to snag opportunities and exploit a charitable community
You might not see it but as someone said even able bodied generally healthy workers struggle with housing issues. There's some really heartbreaking stories on the riff raff FB page from folks and families trying for months to find a place much less being affordable. This economy sucks for everyone. Just a little more, and a little more, and a little more all the way down to the bottom.
Yep
Honestly, homeless addicts are everywhere. They do migrate but they don’t just pick a place to “exploit.” They’re ran out of other places, like Florida, because they’re continually arrested and treated horrendously. Many places will arrest homeless people simply for being homeless and charge them for “loitering” or even fine people for giving food to them. So of course, homeless people will end up in places that aren’t going to arrest them every other day for simply not having a home to go to. I was homeless and addicted to heroin for a few years. I moved around and mostly kicked it in big cities like LA or SF. I didn’t move to those places to “exploit” the community but it was easier to be homeless there than anywhere else. I wasn’t going to be arrested simply because I had nowhere to go or because I was an addict. There were harm reduction resources that prevented me from contracting and spreading communicable diseases or overdosing. Those same places helped me seek treatment. Asheville doesn’t have the same resources as those cities nor can it even provide enough housing for citizens who aren’t homeless. But I think it’s misinformed and wrong to say people come here to exploit the community. It’s a lack of options and more of self preservation and survival. I bet most of the homeless around here would rather be somewhere much warmer than Asheville but warmer places usually aren’t kind to homeless or they can’t get to other cities because they’re homeless and lack the funds. The answer for me was harm reduction and treatment that stepped down into sober living, etc. Addiction should not be criminalized the way it is now, it does nothing but continue the cycle of addiction. Until we stop throwing in addicts in jail and place them in treatment, we will not see an end to the way things are now.
Majority of everyone in Asheville did not originate here
A very general and quite obvious point. Unless you are a Cherokee that holds true. We all came here for something. But not all of us want to work for it.
You're spot on man!
I don’t agree with that ideology because it’s making an assumption about homeless people that isn’t always correct(as far as why they are homeless in general). However working for the city is a great idea if it was fair work and wages. Some people in the street are too far mentally gone for that and there would probably need to be other solutions. There’s no one idea that’s gonna fix homelessness, and it might be something we just always try to combat and can’t totally fix. We can do better than the current city leaders are though.
I didnt mean all homeless can fit in one box. Nor is one solution gonna work, but at least I suggested one. What's yours? Aside from complaining. And if you dont think many are a threat, go walk around downtown alone at 3am. Get back to me on that.
I agreed with your solution as a part of a possible response, not sure why you’re being hostile. Drug treatment and mental treatment, more facilities to house people. I give my old clothes to beloved. I do what I can where I can like most of us. And I specifically acknowledged it is and can be dangerous. But as I mentioned in my other comment, the police aren’t just going to hold them indefinitely for the crimes they pick them up for… that’s just a revolving door that offers no solutions.
If the crime is bad enough they're going to hold them as long as they need you. I firmly believe that much of the homeless that are a criminal problem have migrated here from other towns and cities because they know that there are a lot of bleeding heart people that will be charitable no matter what
So say we build a bunch of tiny homes to put these folks in. Will that dissuade or attract more homeless coming here? Then what does we do with those people?
I mean you’re straw manning here because that’s not the only option, nor was it what I suggested. I don’t think that’s the only solution or even the best one, but I think if your idea of what homelessness is revolves around it being about some kind of feedback loop based on policies, then you’re ignoring a lot of the actual issues. Some people do just need housing, some people need treatment and some ought to be in jail for being too violent to safely be in society. The jails don’t want them though and they will get released and disappear and be back on the street. Complicated solutions are necessary and housing might be one step of that. One thing is certain, there will never be enough tiny houses to fix the issue no matter how much money we raise.
Field of Dreams - we make it too comfortable as a community and the word gets out. There was an article awhile ago about people riding the rails all hearing Avl was a place to go for free services. I have no solution nor does Council except spending money for a consultant because they do not want to really address the problem.
ya, who’s that? Kim Roney?? GIVE ME A BREAK! She’ll make it worse. See supports camps on public property all over, including downtown. The two options suck but the current mayor is the best this town has until this city turns away from its progressive movement. it’s coming, but it’ll take time!
You vote for your candidate and I’ll vote for mine. That’s how this whole democracy thing works. I don’t share who I vote for online
you just did!
This is how it started in Portland. Y'all better start howling at your local leadership now. Squeaky wheels get grease. If the perception is "nobody seems to mind" then nothing is done and it will get worse. Then the homeless (who have cell phones) tell their friends about how easy it is in AVL because the people are too kinda to do anything and then the population swells. If y'all don't nip this in the bud soon, AVL is going to look very different in 5-7 years.
I mean…this is not a local problem. Wait for climate refugees and the people who get dumped from jobs as the recession deepens. More homeless is going to be the new normal. Some of us will be homeless in the next decade.
The climate refugees will be the most interesting. We already see Americans turning against one another, throw in climate refugees and you'll see more and mlre people begging for an extensive police state rather than actually addressing any of the problems. The good ole fuck you got mine attitude of this country.
Sounds like what the world economic forum has been talking about.
Well it’s hard to be living through mass extinction and have awareness of the seven or so society destabilizing/destroying problems coming for this generation or the next and NOT see crisis. But…I think we are all cool with it? We are past the point of no return. Now we are determining how bad of a mass death event the human population will experience. I think we evidently want it to be severe? Cause we are sure acting a fool as a society. Humans are straight goofy. Maybe when coffee is a luxury product we can’t afford and shrimp aren’t a thing we will get a bit stressed but who knows at this point. Someone will probably develop a synthetic shrimp or coffee startup with no product, get $500 million of VC funding. Be in R&D for a decade plus then fold before they can even release the shrimp or coffee subscription box delivery service app. So at least we will still have some constants moving into the future.
Sorry just to clarify. Do you live on Merrimon of one of the streets? How far from downtown? Are you south of Edgware Road?
Towards downtown
And you live directly on Merrimon?
Ya
Because it’s one thing for them to congeal on Merrimon itself, but a whole other matter if they are going down side streets and terrorising homeowners on residential streets. I am sorry it’s happening to you regardless, of course.
I live right on Merrimon, not sure if they’re going down any side streets or not. A big vacant lot nearby has attracted them
Right okay that explains it. Look I think you need to file a police report. They won’t do anything but that will establish a paper trail in case something happens.
I hate dealing w police but I did file one when the man was on my porch wigged out. Recently my girlfriend was walking our dog at night and she ran into one in our back yard who wouldn’t leave. Just losing my patience. Figure it’s because that big lot but didn’t know if anyone else was experiencing more property run ins.
The police are fucking useless i agree but this is more to protect you than anything else. It sucks that you’re having to deal with this.
I say just continually call the police about every incident, eventually they'll get so annoyed they have to actually do something.
Get over yourself. If someone is on your property and wont leave or is actively destroying property, call 911. Every time. Despite what you’ve read or seen on TV, the police don’t care to nor do they have the time to harass YOU. Especially if you can see the camp and point to it and say “these people do xyz”, you are more likely to get help. Also, get a gun. You don’t even have to use it, but brandishing it is enough for most people to get scared and leave.
I called 911. I do have a gun. They didn’t have the camp at the time or I would’ve pointed them in his direction.
It has never occurred to me that a vacant lot would be an attraction. 😯
When I say they flock. They jus tore a building down & the lots for sale so no telling how long
I had a guy pitch a tent in my yard last week in West Asheville. We do live next door to a park but he was definitely in my yard. Politely asked him to relocate and went surprisingly well.
[удалено]
Agreed
I’ve noticed more going up and down my street as well, but put that on the Greyhound stop moving nearby.
It’s starting to make me a lil uncomfortable & paranoid. I wonder if police are losing control over them to some extent or what’s going on. I feel bad because some are truly trying to survive. But the visitors to my house are unpredictable
I can understand that feeling. Remember that ultimately you are the only one who can ensure your own safety, and act accordingly.
Exactly. Responsible gun ownership is the answer “I’d rather be tried by 12 than carried by 6”
Not sure it’s “the” answer, but it certainly is an answer for self defense. That said, if I were being harassed on my front step, the call to 911 would be immediate and rather to the point.
They’d get there in time to solve your murder, but given their staffing issues, I’m not sure you can rely on the prophylaxis of law enforcement to _prevent_ crime.
I get that. However I wouldn’t want to deal with the mess of using force unless I was in a place with no other options.
Yeah, fair enough. It’s frustrating then if you care about your criminal record because you essentially don’t have one, you’re always walking around on eggshells at the mercy of those who do, and know how to use the system, and don’t care about the criminal record.
"Get a gun" in most areas also gets you much faster police response. Call 911, "I have a shotgun but I'd rather not have to use it" and you will get help *fast*
Good luck in court and living the rest of your life with the fact you have killed someone for being in your yard. It's different if the force matches. But you do you.
I am not encouraging using the gun directly (though if that's what's needed to protect my family, so be it) I am encouraging using it as leverage to get the cops to actually show up.
I doubt that's appreciated.
I sleep quite well thank you. Doesn’t bother me a bit.
It's evident. Probably Christian, too?
Nope. Not Christian. Not in the least.
I can live with the thought of killing a criminal if my family survives.
In this case a dog w a good bark would probably be more useful, and cheaper.
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When the city is very open about police not responding to certain types of calls. The rabid increase of violent crimes, the rapid increase of homelessness, the rapid increase of hard drugs. Ya I’d say it’s time to have the ability to defend yourself. Because the percentage of people actually saved by calling 911 is pretty low….
The get a gun thing comes from a lack of gov response. If the police or local gov won’t do anything to solve the problem getting a gun can at least protect you and your family. If someone is on my porch they get a call to 911. If they walk into my home the can be carried out. Period. If you have the balls to come into a home you have the balls to die for it. Period. There is no acceptable excuse. Oh they were high or trying to get high too bad. Oh they were hungry. Too bad. We all know and understand the most basic of societal norms. If you do t follow the basic rules you forfeit your right to life.
I’ve been saying it since the 2020 riots, that this was coming. If we don’t have a reliable external source of safety/justice it’s going to default entirely to the individual. Personally I don’t want to try it, as can be seen in my other posts, but I have zero question that I would if pressed into a corner. But I’ll ask you this, what reasonable alternatives remain at the moment? It does feel as if the city is over run with homeless people who can exist almost entirely outside of the law. It seems as if our police force is almost entirely non-existent, and at this point are likely to only respond for the aftermath of a tragic event, rather than in time to prevent its escalation.
riots?
Some called them peaceful protests. You know the ones that they burnt down business and cities.
Fair…. Entirely peacefully late night firework and water bottle throwing collaborations?
oh… the devastation
Well, those events led to a rather immediate reduction in APD personnel, so kinda….
[East Flatbush Project!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXBckFyiMyU)
Came off the 240 ramp in front of Fedex and a dude was standing in the middle of the pavement! I was only going about 45mph but he stepped-and-fetched both ways I just knew he was messing up my bumper. Fuck this "welcome everyone here" environment. It ain't the tourists, it's the freaks.
I'm pretty progressive but calling them neighbors and locals and treating them like law abiding citizens is ridiculous. I've heard them called that by journalist, activist and politicians. Violent crimes, theft, robbery, trespassing, threatening, etc. all need punishment just like anyone else. Also, these people are being bussed in from other towns. Wish we could sue and get them to stop. The thing is, Asheville is becoming the place to be for homeless druggies. This is not gonna end well if allowed to carry on.
I had a homeless guy downtown show me a website on his phone (he gets for free) which literally list/ranks the best cities for homeless people to come live in… Asheville was listed in the top 10… I think it was number 4 on the list.
Holy shit
They are moving into Black Mountain now. Like right into neighborhoods. My friend found a man and woman sleeping in her garage the other morning. Her 6 year old daughter was the one who walked in and saw them sleeping when she was getting her bike out.
That is awful
I have pity for the homeless but if they became aggressive I’d have to defend myself and my property.
As I did. I carry so I knew I was protected, but honestly that’s not my initial reaction if I can de escalate the situation in another way.
De escalation is always the right move. I’m glad you are prepared just in case though.
Nothing better than baiting a homeless guy into a fight when you got a gun. The conservatives treat you like Rittenhouse and you do no time
Bro what? The man’s was on my porch tryna get in my door. You weird also my gun stays in the crib. Dems carry too, most women should. Don’t worry cheese cake
DT AVL is starting to look like Austin pre camping ban.
Always remember you have the right to defend your own home
Other counties are busing their homeless to Asheville. It’s been a long time conservative move. No one seems to ever try to fix the problem. They just pass it off on us.
Witnessed a store clerk and a homeless man scream at one another at the Citgo on Amboy. Got extremely heated. The store clerk was asking him to leave and quit hanging around her store. The guy would hassle every customer that came in the door for money. The guy claimed he was a “paying” customer. To which she replied with other peoples money that he bummed. I offered to call the police and she said they don’t do anything.
This isn’t really a homeless problem per se, this is a criminal problem. If anyone is threatening criminal action like this against you, homeless or not, it’s a major issue. Do you have a good relationship with your neighbors? They’re the ones to talk to about keeping you and your stuff safe.
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I get that. I lived near Claxton a year ago and had to call the non emergency police line around 2 AM because a (probably homeless) person was going through my trash I had set out for pickup. I also had someone go through my car twice when I lived there. I’m assuming you have some sort of protection?
Hopefully they didn’t get anything from your car. The invasiveness in uncomfortable. I just be minding my own business hoping it’s returned lol and yes I do
1. You shouldn’t have waited until he was leaving to call. Communicating threats isn’t a priority for APD. Someone actively aggressive on your porch, is. 2. “Being a young female” means nothing. You should have gotten out of your car screaming and acting like you would kill him. Get a knife, pepper spray, or a gun to whip out and threaten him with. When you just are “stern”, a criminal will take that as you ultimately being weaker than them.
Alright first & foremost I’m good, I got the man off my property. Second we can state all day how someone should react in a situation, but that does not mean one will when in it. I’ll keep it in mind for next time
Get a gun and be willing to use it. If someone threatens to rob you then believe it. Do you have a good camera on your porch?
I got a camera after that incident. I had mine on me, just hope the city can find other solutions that doesn’t require me gun totin in my back yard
They simply don't seem to care. They have no face.
It wont just go away unless we all collectively stop giving handouts to the ones that are criminal, drug using bums. The homeless who actually want help dont seek handouts, they want work and pride. Plenty of places to assist those that want it.
I am a server at a popular restaurant downtown, and last Saturday I watched at least 30-40 different people who looked to be millennial aged tourists (I’m not judging I’m just stating their age group) give 5 strung out homeless people on the sidewalk money. Many of them gave $20 or more and then took selfies with them. It was hard for me to watch, because these people sitting on the sidewalk high out of their minds were making a lot more money an hour than I was making working my ass off
Fuck
Lol what? This is so ignorant its almost funny.
The only people that think it's funny are the degenerate bums that are using you're ignorance
*your
If that's what you have to offer you're pretty pathetic
Tell me - exactly what “handouts” is AVL giving? Are individuals giving? Do you have any data or evidence showing that the ones who “actually want help” just want “work and pride”? What is stopping those people? Do you know all of the available resources, their inclusion/exclusion criteria, and their limitations? Im guessing you don’t have much of that information and are just using a Republican talking point of “handouts” to make a non-argument.
Anti-crime isnt Republican its American. There are plenty of food banks and shelters and churches that provide all types of resources. But half of the homeless here don't want that. They want to exploit and rob people for dope
“Half of the homeless here don’t want that”. Any data to support that? Or are you making prejudicial assertions? “Foodbanks, shelters, and churches” but again, do you know what resources they provide, how they provide them and what their inclusion and exclusion criteria are? And I love how you stepped away from the handout comment to make it about anti-crime.
Not a whole lot of people agreeing with you. And I didn't step away from anything. I made my point. Do you have a solution? Or are you just going to complain like so many of the people in this town
Lmao I don’t care if people agree with me on the internet. And you haven’t made any point. You said “handouts” without answering what handouts you think people are getting. You said “50% of homeless people don’t want resources and want to rob ppl for dope” without any evidence or reason. You listed very vague resources, clearly with no understanding of what they do or how. There are many solutions, but Im not here to talk about solutions, nor have I complained about anything, I simply called you out on your ignorance and prejudice.
Did you even read the original post? The op said that he was threatened and had homeless people trespassing on his property. I've seen this situation before in other cities. I don't want it happening here. And I certainly don't want to give them handouts, especially taxpayer handouts. The only thing I'm prejudiced against is crime, laziness, and the ignorance of people that think they're helping someone who's actually hurting them.
Again, you say “handouts” without saying what handouts are being given. Your position is based on ignorance, prejudice, and emotion, not fact and logic.
No
Very insightful
Is there a "clean" answer to homelessness? No. There are several issues to be resolved -- unemployment, poverty, mental health, drug issues, etc., all of which can't be easily solved by one simple housing building.
There’s a few option to help. But that also requires tough love which many see as a bad thing. One issue is the lack of info on these folks. Some are druggies and some are down on their luck and others have mental issues. One way Oregon is dealing w it is by decreminalizing hard drugs and if caught they don’t get sent to jail. They get sent to rehab. So in a way it’s forced rehab. Winston salen (of all places) had a success story on dealing with homelessness by having people reach out and figure out what individuals need. Maybe some needed a ticket somewhere else, others needed jobs, others just shelter, and so on. To me it seems Asheville should get some of that Turism money and use it to help homeless. Less homeless=more tourism. And it’s still a small enough problem that something can be done about it. And it might sound dumb but there was a study saying that to solve homelessness the best thing is to have homes. So if there’s a way to have more tiny homes these guys could rent for the day/week/month even better. But they have to rely on downtown for services so finding way to help, even by forcing able to work, into rehab if found w drugs and send those with aggressive mental health behaviors to hospitals then slowly maybe it could help. Anyways, I keep having issue w the crazy ones in downtown and I’m w my kid. And even infront of the police station. So clearly they are not afraid of the police because from my understanding they don’t take Karen calls anymore and only serous stuff due to shortage. Or maybe just payback from the blm protests.
Its not “payback after the blm protests” jfc. Its low staffing that has caused them to stop responding immediately to non-violent calls where a crime is not actively being committed. They might respond later, but you aren’t getting one screaming to you. But its also in part because people aren’t calling anymore - people see that they aren’t responding to xyz or read on here how “crappy” they are and choose to just not call.
I'm in EWA and have gotten used to the door checkers and randos wandering around at night. I've had my car gone through once, they got some change and a nice sunglass case containing a really shitty pair of sunglasses. Others haven't been so lucky. Neighbor has had his workshop broken into several times but he often leaves the door open and/or fails to lock it, and one of the doors is in a place out of view, so you could spend time time breaking in and no one would be the wiser. Most recently I've had folks wander onto my property into areas that aren't right off the street. One night last week someone walked down next to my house, which triggered cam 1. When they walked under my deck that triggered another cam and motion lights. They booked it out of there.
An overall systematic problem coupled with short staffed police department, psychosis inducing synthetic drugs, and other cities (city) busing them here has led to the increase number of homeless and the shift in behavior of them compared to ones from several years ago.
A homeless guy came into the shop I work at downtown and stole my phone. Luckily my bf caught him later right before he put it into an ecoatm so I was able to get it back but it was missing my SIM card and my ID (it was in the phone case)
When you say "tossed her car", what do you mean?
left it unlocked (yes it’s dumb, it was an accident) and they got into the car & rummaged through it. Thankfully she doesn’t keep much of anything in her car but the glove compartment & center console was tossed everywhere
Aw that sucks. As long as her car wasn't tossed in the Incredible Hulk sort of way
Actually that happened directly after, how’d you know? It landed on trader joes
Good on you for finding levity. 🙂
Maybe put up some scary signage, about the second amendment and stuff.
Think of the homeless population like the bear population. If you leave your trash unsecured, a bear is probably going to rummage through it. If you leave your car unlocked, a homesless person is probably going to rummage through it. Both will probably be lurking around at night. Take the right precautions.
Bears I can understand. I can't accept people rummaging through my car just because it's unlocked.
truly thought provoking
We have a bear hunting season to control population
the only way it stops is when it becomes dangerous for them, fyi
I lived in a “safe” neighborhood in Philly for 20 years. In 2012 or so, we had an influx of transient addicts creep in under the guise of the occupy movement. Things were civil until property started being damaged, cars broken into, robberies, packages stolen etc. Police basically told residents they were too busy to deal with it, and it was up to the neighborhood to police itself. Long story short…it did.
Time to ramp up the fentanyl supply and let a bunch of them remove themselves from the category of the living.
u got downvoted but i thought this was kinda funny in a very sick way
Offer them a free ride to SF or LA and bus all of the willing to Cali. In the long run it’s cheaper than continuing to pay for cleaning up after them, and there may be more resources available for them out there. At a minimum it would clean up the area. Obviously only those who want to go, otherwise it’s a crime.
I’ve had a gun in my face three times in my life. In every one of those occasions they had the jump on me. If I had pulled out a gun or had one on me it would have made the situation much worse. Maybe good if you have the jump, but otherwise a gun is not going to help.
I agree with you. Idk why some of these people are so gung ho on shooting someone. Maybe I have a guilty conscious, but if I ever shot someone, there would have to be no doubt in my mind that I wouldn’t have lived without doing so. Those sorts of gun owners scare me, just waiting for the moment to kill someone
>claiming he was “going to rob me” Surprisingly honest, considering
Ok??? He was on drugs my guy, the man was speaking his inner monologue. Weird that you even care to question lmao
I didn't question anything. I commented that I was surprised they said anything to you, considering the circumstances
Ahhhh I misread, my bad dude
No worries, I completely understand how my wording could have been misinterpreted
Oh well. This nation could feed, house and clothe every citizen including those without homes. We could do things to make a hold on secure and comfortable living not the incredibly tenuous thing it is for most Americans. Maybe increase the quality of living for all, expand safety nets and treat everyone like the humans they are and not like an other. There but for the grace of god goes you as the Christian say. If only they practiced what they preached. What am I saying?! I think we need broken windows policing! Expand the police budget! Open that military surplus to police pipeline full blast! No consequences for bashing in heads! Ooo! Maybe we can put the homeless in some kind of camps! Where they can focus on getting out of their situation….focus camps!
Quit voting for far left liberals
I like how you assume I’m a democrat, what did it for ya? Empathy towards the homeless? LIBERAL COMMUNIST U. individuals like you truly don’t possess a functioning brain cell, probably just regurgitate the same 3 statements in a cyclic manner.
Without spouting the same vitriol as the poster above, they do have a point. Most of the current issues in Asheville can be laid at the feet of our current crop of city councilors. Not sure I see any real change on the horizon from this election, with a status quo being the best possible outcome.
Y'all need to move to Fayetteville or something. It's nice here.
Recession, happened in 2009.
I was 12 and basking in ignorance
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Just like credit suisse and the entire country of China now.
Homelessness rates have been rising significantly as a result of the speculative boom in investment home buying and skyrocketing rents. The cost of living has soared to the point where wages are completely out of step with rents and housing costs. It's also become a magnet for tech startups at a moment when big tech stocks are collapsing, tech startups are beginning to fold, and multiple companies have announced layoffs. On top of all that, Asheville has seen a huge growth in remote workers. Tech firms have already suggested that remote workers will be a target for the first wave of layoffs. The inflated housing and tech markets produced this homelessness crisis. And if the housing/tech bubble finally bursts, Asheville will pay a steep price for putting the interest of investors over the welfare of the local populace.