Homeless people’s situation transcends city limits | News, sports, jobs

The image shows a site in Fredonia, in a wooded area where some homeless people live. Photo by Mike Smoker

BARCELONA — He sat at Route 5 and North Portage Road in this tiny hamlet that boasts a thriving summer shoreline and a pier on the shores of Lake Erie. Holding a cardboard sign, the man made a humble, desperate plea.

“Homeless. I need money.”

Residents and tourists who stopped at the intersection took note. Some offered him loose change while others handed him dollar bills.

Their situation is becoming more and more common in Chautauqua County. Since Mayor Kim Ecklund declared a state of emergency in Jamestown two weeks ago, homelessness has been a hot-button, high-profile issue for nearly every community.

According to many reports, the area has reached a crisis situation that offers no easy answers.

In this South County city, the visibility of the problem cannot be underestimated. From the heart of downtown to the former Brooklyn Square, encampments can be seen near the Chadakoin River and the viaduct area.

Ecklund’s state of emergency points to mental health as one of the key factors. By making the declaration on the evening of July 25, there is no denying that this problem has become too severe for a municipality of 28,500 residents, the largest in the county, to handle.

Elected officials believe that since Jamestown is home to the only treatment center within a 55-mile radius, many of those who arrive are unable to return home. This has proliferated a problem that began shortly after the COVID pandemic and the closure of Lakeshore Hospital in Irving in February 2020.

“The City has been actively pushing for more mental health assessment centers to be established throughout Western New York to more effectively address this issue and provide crucial support to those in need,” city officials said in a press release last month. “In collaboration with UPMC Chautauqua, the City of Jamestown urges the Governor to evaluate the need for an additional 939 facility in Western New York or a neighboring county.”

As noted in a previous article on this topic, that type of placement is a reference to Section 939 of the state’s Mental Hygiene Law, which allows for the involuntary commitment of people with mental health issues who are deemed a danger to themselves or others. City officials say people are often brought to Jamestown under Section 939, as well as Sections 941 and 945 of the state’s Mental Hygiene Law.

Those transports are headed to UPMC Chautauqua from all over Western New York. Ecklund, who is still waiting for some kind of response from the state, had no choice.

Other municipalities in the county are not immune to what is happening in Jamestown. A testament to this is the poverty rate, which stands at 17.4 percent in Chautauqua County.

In North County, the situation also exists, though some of it is hidden. A Post-Journal reporter visited a site in Dunkirk-Fredonia where homeless people have set up an encampment that is out of sight of residents. Although during a recent weekend visit he found remains of people who had been there, he saw no one at the site, which is west of Vineyard Drive in a heavily wooded area.

Partners in Kind is one of many groups or nonprofits working to ease the burden. This collective of Dunkirk-Fredonia community members dedicated to addressing unmet human needs has helped a transient population for years, especially during the winter months. The organization places gloves and socks in plastic bags at numerous locations throughout North County in recent years. At certain times, those items are quickly delivered to community members in need or those who are traveling and seeking assistance.

In Jamestown, that human element cannot be ignored. Churches and charities have offered help, and community members spoke out in favor of doing more at a council meeting last month.

“It’s true that they probably have a lot of problems,” Cynthia Schoberg said. “That’s probably how they got here in the first place. So I hope we can use the example of other cities. Austin, Texas, I know has a program where they moved everyone out and moved homeless people into tiny houses. They need security. They need a place where they can lock up the few items they have. They need dignity.”

But there is another side to the coin, which has to do with crime. In recent police reports, at both ends of the county, there are more homeless people accused of illegal activities, most of which are considered minors, although this is not always the case.

On May 19, a grand jury indicted Eric Chartier, 34, last week on charges of first- and second-degree arson. That fire injured another person who was staying at the condemned residence at 234 Fulton St.

A more tragic story is the April 2018 death of 47-year-old Brian Heyden, also classified as homeless, who was found on Route 20 in a wooded area near Corell Creek in Portland. To this day, authorities have no answers as to what happened.

While the focus is mostly on Jamestown, there is no denying that this is a dilemma facing all of Chautauqua County, even if it is not being addressed in other communities or in the Legislature. Earlier this week, a resident who once owned property near Chautauqua Lake contacted us from Mechanicsville, Pennsylvania, after reading about the problem in our newspapers. He said he left the region after becoming frustrated with the lack of private investment in the area.

That person had the means and decided to move. Those who have gathered in Jamestown are not so fortunate, which partly explains why they stay.

What’s more, these camps have created a different kind of community: a new place for those with nowhere else to go to call home.

John D’Agostino is an editor at The Post-Journal, OBSERVER and Times Observer in Warren, Pa. Send comments to [email protected] or call 716-487-1111, ext. 253.