As Roanoke sees rising rates of homelessness, the city is deploying police and seeking new initiatives in response to concerns from downtown businesses.

A lack of affordable housing has contributed to an uptick in people experiencing homelessness in recent years, according to Matt Crookshank, the city’s human services administrator.

“Housing right now is just not affordable for lower-income households,” Crookshank told City Council members Monday.

The latest census counted 342 people experiencing homelessness in July, the highest summer count since at least 2019. Of those, 77 were unsheltered, mostly staying in an outdoor encampment or on the street or sidewalk.

“Most people in Roanoke do not understand this problem,” Councilman Bev Fitzpatrick said. “And they would rather throw arrows at it than understand the problem.”

Interim City Manager Lydia Pettis Patton said she attended a breakfast last week with 18 business owners, and the “conversation was around the unhoused and the areas in the downtown that businesses are really feeling they are being impacted by the unhoused.”

Patton said attendees received copies of a new law enforcement initiative and said she would convene roundtable discussions next month about what the city and businesses could do collectively to tackle the problem of homelessness, including better transportation services. 

“We are moving,” she told Council members.

Last week, Roanoke police began a “Downtown Safety and Visibility Enhancement Plan” that involves dedicated officers patrolling and biking downtown, more patrol vehicles parked near the City Market Building and outreach from detectives to business owners.

That plan “was developed in response to growing concerns from our downtown residents and business owners regarding safety and public order,” says a memo from late last month announcing the initiative.

Jason Roggensee, who works in property management, has offices on Jefferson Street beside the city’s Homeless Assistance Team offices, along with short-term rentals. In early September, he emailed police to lodge complaints about 20 to 30 people gathering outside with drugs and open containers of alcohol. 

“I have lost employees because they are tired of being harrassed by this group. I have lost customers and revenue (AIRBNB) because my guests don't feel safe,” Roggensee wrote to city employees. “When is the City going to prioritize the safety and well-being of its taxpayers instead of pandering to the homeless population and the liberal politicians who seemingly want this situation to expand and worsen?”

Around lunchtime Tuesday, the area around the City Market Building was quiet.

A police van was parked outside Awful Arthur’s. Officer M.A. Ruiz said he and colleagues began their concentrated bike patrols last week. He said police have responded to nuisance calls, enforced parking laws and are creating an environment so downtown visitors feel safe.

“We’ve really been able to effect a lot of change in a short amount of time,” Ruiz said.

Many complaints were coming in about people sitting on the farmers market tables around Market Square. 

“A lot of it is keeping people from congregating, which causes littering, causes disorder,” Ruiz said. “We’re taking back downtown.”

Izzy Post, a spokesperson for Downtown Roanoke, Inc., which represents businesses, said they have seen an increase in the city’s unsheltered population within the last few months.

“Businesses have expressed concerns to us regarding this growth and we have conveyed their concerns to the appropriate City officials,” Post said in an email. “We are encouraged, excited, and thankful for the steps the City is taking in response to the businesses' concerns.”

Lee Clark, CEO of the Rescue Mission of Roanoke, told Council Monday that advocates hope to provide more consistent transportation for people experiencing homelessness that would go between the Mission, the RAM House day shelter and other social service agencies.

“We need $120,000 to make that a reality,” he said, speaking for a group of homeless assistance advocates. “I feel like that’s very achievable.”

Patton expressed hope that after her roundtable meetings with local businesses next month, city and private partners could pool resources.

“I feel confident that .. we’re going to find a way to put together, so it’s not just the city, where somebody will say ‘I can pitch in. $120,000? You can pitch in,’” she said. “Then we’ve got the money that can start it and then we can look for grants” to continue the service longer-term.

For the summer homelessness census, Crookshank said outreach workers found the loss of a job and relationship conflicts as among the top reasons that people found themselves homeless. The presentation showed officials have improved the rate at which people return to homelessness, from about 30 percent in the 2019 fiscal year, to 15 percent in the most recent.

However, Crookshank also highlighted that the number of people experiencing homelessness for the first time has ballooned. That declined from 1,599 in the 2018 fiscal year, bottoming out in 2020 at 604 people, but steadily rising to reach 1,467 people in the latest year available.

The issue of homelessness and its impact on downtown businesses came up at a mayoral candidate forum last week hosted by the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce and Kiwanis Club.

Vice Mayor Joe Cobb revealed that a new police initiative was addressing concerns from residents and businesses. Former mayor David Bowers expressed appreciation that Cobb pointed that out, saying it was, “something that we needed for a long time and has been advocated, because there is a homeless situation in downtown Roanoke that keeps other people away from coming downtown.”

At Monday’s Council meeting, Councilwoman Vivian Sanchez-Jones pointed out that in 2012, officials counted 561 people experiencing homelessness, far more than the latest count of 342.

“A lot of people are saying, ‘The unhoused, the numbers are incredible. We’ve never seen them this high,’” Sanchez-Jones said. “They were high back in 2012.” 

“Who was mayor back then?” Councilman Peter Volosin asked tongue-in-cheek.

“Mayor Bowers,” Sanchez-Jones replied.

“Now, wait a minute. You don’t use that name up here,” Mayor Sherman Lea said.

Fitzpatrick guffawed, adding, “That’s like a curse word up here.”