BALTIMORE — With homeless encampments cropping up across Baltimore, a local group is calling for city leaders to do more to keep people off the streets.
The group is referring to camps like one near the corner of Pratt Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, where a number of tents can now be found.
They’re urging leaders to provide more resources to help those experiencing homelessness.
Teddy Mills lives in an abandoned home near that intersection, but he has been homeless for about a year. Like advocates, he has noticed more tents.
“I’ve been seeing more people showing up,” Mills told WJZ. “These guys in tents, they stay here all year long.”
He was among those who turned out Tuesday to hear from members of the Black Community Development Coalition, a group that is calling for more to be done to address the issue.
“Whether they live in a tent, whether we live in a house, they are still part of someone’s community, and we have to make sure we recognize that,” Christina Flowers said.
The coalition said the encampment near MLK Boulevard and Pratt Street has grown, and they noted that there are roughly 10 others they’ve noticed throughout the city.
“Forget the politics,” Xavier Stukes said. “We have to be accountable as people to help and serve one another.”
Funding remains a key piece of the puzzle, the group’s members said.
“Where is the money?” Flowers wondered. “We are looking at so much extra funding in our city coming from the federal, coming from different agencies, coming from COVID relief, and we’re not seeing our most vulnerable population benefiting from (it).”
Speaking at a separate event on Tuesday, Mayor Brandon Scott said the city is taking steps to end homelessness in Baltimore. The city placed people in hotels during the pandemic.
The city is exploring an expansion of that program as well as more affordable housing.
Scott’s office announced Monday that a second round of federal American Rescue Plan Act funding totaling roughly $6.6 million is being deployed to groups to offset homelessness.
Recipients include Baltimore Safe Haven, which will get $500,000 for transitional housing case management and guidance, and Bethel Outreach, which is getting $1.25 million to help Upton residents with food, shelter, health care and other resources.