JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Jackson’s top law enforcement officers were at the state Capitol again Wednesday, this time to talk about the city’s homeless problem.

On Wednesday, the House Select Committee on Capital Revitalization met to discuss the homeless issue.

During the nearly three-hour meeting, lawmakers heard from Jackson Police Chief Joseph Wade, Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones and Capitol Police Chief Bo Luckey.

Wade said he would welcome any support the state could offer to help solve the problem, but said it was important not to turn homelessness into a crime.

“We have people who have been victims of circumstances, who have been victims of life, who are now on the streets,” he said. “We need to give them the resources and a path to a decent quality of life… But we all know that homelessness, this scourge, breeds crime in our community. »

Wednesday was the third time the committee met to discuss the challenges facing the capital. Previously, the committee met to discuss Jackson’s water. It also met to discuss blighted properties.

(READ: ‘A major problem in the city’: State, local leaders meet to discuss abandoned properties in Jackson)

Committee co-chair Rep. Shanda Yates said a 2023 study prepared for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development showed there were nearly 780 unhoused people in Mississippi last year, including 680 in Jackson.

“About 204 of those 780 are families. Among them, 42 are unaccompanied minors. 69 of those 780 are veterans,” she said. “It is suspected that these numbers are higher because this is a population for which it is difficult to obtain an accurate count.”

An MP asked why homeless people were attracted to the capital. Wade explained that this was partly due to the resources available.

“There are so many entities helping the homeless population here in the City of Jackson, unlike our neighboring counties. You also have MDOC here in downtown. A lot of people are getting out of prison. They were transplanted and transferred here to Jackson to try to meet the requirements for release from prison with MDOC,” he said. “This is a major problem.”

“But also, when you talk about panhandling and the homeless population, there is panhandling on Lakeland Drive and County Line Road. It’s much more productive than going to the county or elsewhere, because of the population.

Panhandling is common on Lakeland Drive in front of St. Dominic Hospital. It is also prevalent on County Line Road and the I-55 exit ramp. It is also not uncommon for customers to be approached at service stations in Fondren and High Street.

“We have people hanging out in parking lots and either their intimidating appearance, or their intimidating speech, or their actions or mannerisms, creates a more intimidating environment,” Luckey said. “When they ask for money, it seems more forced than voluntary.”

However, combating begging can be difficult. If someone asks for money on public property, it can be considered free speech. If they do this on private property, the owner will have to sign an affidavit to have the person evicted for trespassing.

Wade said officers can arrest panhandlers if they are obstructing traffic or have an outstanding warrant for another crime, but not just for demanding money.

“This issue has been raised over the last 10 years here in the city…and we have been warned. We have been informed that panhandling is considered protected… (and) we have been threatened by several agencies and organizations to sue us for violating the constitutional right of these individuals to panhandle.”

Luckey said one way to solve the problem would be to require anyone wanting to request money to obtain a permit, whether it’s a group of Boy Scouts collecting for a camping trip or individuals requesting money for food.

“We need to remove the stipulation of whether or not they’re homeless, whether or not they’re a nonprofit, whether or not they’re a business, whether or not they’re filed by someone. Ultimately, if you have to go somewhere in the public and ask for money, then there should be some sort of permission given for that,” he said.

“If we start choosing which groups get permits or whether we require permits, then everything we implement will not be enforceable,” he continued. “You can’t have regulations that are put in place just to make it difficult for a homeless person to get a permit. »

Officers also discussed the problem of squatting, which is made worse by the absence of landowners.

Jones said in some cases, third parties target properties owned by out-of-state and out-of-country landlords and rent the properties to squatters themselves.

“They will look at the land register, they will see who owns this land. It could be someone from another state. It could be someone from another country, and they will pose as an owner or someone who can give access to the property to someone else,” he said. “These people are actually paying rent for these properties, stealing electricity, stealing other utilities when they’re not supposed to be there.”

Jones told committee members there was little the Sheriff’s Department could do to resolve the problem because they often couldn’t get in touch with the owners of the properties.

“Nine times out of ten…we can’t even get in touch with them,” he said. “And as soon as that squatter, those people are gone, if that property is not secure, if it still appears to be what we would consider a blighted property, then guess what? Someone else will take full advantage of it.

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